The Riverhead Town Board has unanimously approved the site plan and special permit for a controversial new hotel proposed on the eastern edge of the Town Square the town is currently building on East Main Street.
The nearly 70,000-square-foot five-story Tapestry Hilton hotel is planned by J. Petrocelli Riverhead Town Square LLC, which last year received the go-ahead to purchase the property from Riverhead Town for $2.6 million. It also includes a restaurant and first floor retail space.
Pictured Above: The site of the proposed Riverhead Town Square Hotel in mid-July, with footings and rebar apparently already in place for the construction. The project received site plan approval Aug. 4.
While numerous residents raised concerns about the lack of parking for the 94-room hotel, the visual impact of another five-story building on East Main Street and the sale of the hotel property to Joe Petrocelli’s companies, which are also the master developers for the Town Square at a public hearing in June, the majority of the Town Board has been strongly in favor of the project.
Town Councilman Ken Rothwell, who is running for Town Supervisor this year, said before the Aug. 4 vote that the completion of projects like this “will fill those restaurants, so our businesses can survive. This is a path moving forward, and it’s promises kept.”
Councilwoman Denise Merrifield was harshly critical of people who raised concerns about parking for the hotel who were also in favor of building a new Long Island Science Center on the west side of the Town Square. The town has since condemned the Science Center’s building and plans to partner with a developer to re-envision what can be built on that side of the square.
“Not one individual remarked whatsoever about potential parking issues that will be created by such a family entity,” she said of supporters of the Science Center.
The site plan approval is for three years, with an option for the Town Board to extend it for another year.
Also this week, J. Petrocelli Riverhead Town Square LLC submitted an amended application for tax relief for the hotel from the town’s Industrial Development Agency. The IDA benefit application will also include a public hearing.
J. Petrocelli’s attorney, Eric Russo said at the June 10 public hearing that the applicants are asking for a refund of sales and use tax that would total $1,361,116.47, a mortgage tax reduction of $147,028 and payments in lieu of real estate taxes (PILOTs) that have not yet been determined because the IDA has not yet told them how long a real estate tax abatement period they will receive. He said they applied for 20 years, but the IDA cannot proceed with their application until the site plan is approved.
Mr. Russo said the project is currently slated to cost more than $35 million, of which $19.6 million will be financed, $1 million comes from a New York State Restore grant and Mr. Petrocelli is contributing $14.545 million.
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