In a 3-2 vote, the Riverhead Town Board voted Tuesday afternoon to begin condemnation proceedings for the Long Island Science Center property at 111 East Main Street, on the Riverhead Town Square, over the objections of several community members and representatives of the Science Center.
Pictured Above: Riverhead Councilman Bob Kern (left), with an architectural rendering of the Science Center, with Long Island Science Center President Larry Oxman (right) at a press conference in May of 2025 announcing the town was not going forward with the condemnation at that time. Mr. Kern voted against condemning the building this week.
Councilman Bob Kern and Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin voted against the resolution.
Councilwoman Denise Merrifield, a former prosecutor, has repeatedly blasted the science center in recent work sessions with its leadership, accusing the science center of never “coming forward with a site plan and building permits.”
She added before casting her vote Tuesday that “the vacant building has done nothing in the last six years to help store owners, to help our tax base. They didn’t have to wait for the Town Square to make this a wonderful science center. My position is they have no credibility left.”
Science Center Board Member Lucy Barnes brought a sheaf of more than 90 papers that she said included plans the Science Center is attempting to submit to the town to the podium at Town Hall before the vote.
“We have proof here. We have funding in place. Our schedule is aligning with the Town Square project,” said Ms. Barnes. “We know this can’t happen without working with the town, as partners.”
She was accompanied by the Science Center’s builder, Alex Lipsky, who said he had brought with him a report from a structural engineer saying the building is sound, that the mold on site was “not unusual,” that the Science Center’s development schedule aligns with the Town Square development, and that complaints of sewage running out of the building into parking lots behind Main Street were unfounded.
He said the toilets in the building, which is the former Swezey’s Department Store, have been capped, and “we did scope the area and found a storm water basin that was broken and had been damaged by others.”
He said the Science Center would help to repair the damage, but it would have to be done in coordination with the Town Square’s master developer, J. Petrocelli Contracting. He added that the Science Center had recently spent $116,000 to put a new roof on the building.
Mr. Kern said he, for one, was impressed to see the way the Science Center has restructured its board and that he believes it is an essential component of the Town Square project. He said the town had issued a stop work order when the Science Center had attempted to remediate the mold on site.
“I could not figure that out,” he said.
Mr. Halpin, the Town Supervisor since January, said before voting against the resolution that the Town Board could have called Science Center representatives back in for a discussion at a work session at any time in the past year, but chose not to. He added that he’s not in favor of paying to hire outside counsel to begin condemnation proceedings, or of using taxpayer funding to compensate the Science Center for the property “until we sell it again.”
Councilman Ken Rothwell said the Science Center was a “necessary component” at the time the Town Square was initially contemplated, but “that was five years ago, and each year the communications have slipped away, and the designs are less and less.”
He added that the original design seemed “like it was our own Smithsonian,” but the proposal has been scaled back numerous times.
“It is an unsafe structure. It needs a complete overhaul and I don’t think the Science Center has the funding to do that,” he said. “I do wish them the best of luck, and I hope we can get a fair market value for them… I hope they can find an appropriate place and still be downtown.”
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