This recent decision marks the end of the town’s months-long eminent domain pursuit of 127 E. Main St. and allows for the Town Square and hotel project to move forward. Supreme Court Justice John J. Leo granted a vesting order filed on Aug. 27 by the town’s defense attorney Frank Isler. This allows for the transfer of ownership of the leasehold interest property of Craft’D to Riverhead Town.

The town board previously approved a budget adjustment to make a $120,000 settlement offer to Craft’D’s owner, SNR Bar 25 Corp. Officials are expected to approve the newly agreed to settlement and $50,000 budget adjustment increase at the Sept. 16 town board meeting.

Craft’D made a social media post about its closure on Aug. 28, the day after the acquisition was approved. The owners invited its patrons to raise a glass with them at a final celebration on Saturday, Sept. 20.

Court documents stated that the Craft’D owners must vacate the premises by Sept. 30, and Riverhead Town must pay the restaurant owners the full settlement no later than Oct. 15.

Attorney Craig Blanchard, who represented SNR Bar 25 Corp., said in an email he and the Craft’D owners were pleased to reach a resolution with Riverhead Town.

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Supreme Court Justice John J. Leo granted a vesting order filed on Aug. 27 by the town’s defense attorney Frank Isler. This allows for the transfer of ownership of the leasehold interest property of Craft’D to Riverhead Town.

Riverhead Town Attorney Erik Howard confirmed in an email a settlement agreement is pending review by the counsel of Craft’D’s owner, SNR Bar 25 Corp. The town board previously approved a budget adjustment to make a $120,000 settlement offer, however, it is unclear if this figure has changed.  

Craft’D made a social media post about its closure the day after the acquisition was approved. The owners invited its patrons to raise a glass with them at a final celebration on Saturday, Sept. 20.

They will offer $3 draft beers and canned beers, and other discounted drinks. A buffet will be open after 6 p.m.

“After six incredible years of cooking, serving, laughing and sharing memories, our time here has come to an end due to the town’s decision to move forward with their project,” read the statement posted on the Craft’D Facebook page. “The bar has been so much more than a place to drink and eat. It’s been our home, your gathering spot, and the backdrop to countless first dates, birthdays, wedding after parties and reunions. We’ve made lifelong friends behind the bar. And we’ve felt the love from this community every single day.”

Sean Kenna, co-owner of Craft’D, strongly debated with Riverhead Town officials at a public hearing back in May and urged them to consider delaying its eminent domain proceedings until he tried to find a new space for his restaurant.

It has not been confirmed if Craft’D will relocate or reopen elsewhere in Riverhead. As of press time, Mr. Kenna has not responded for requests for comment. He and his business partner, Robert Manolio, will continue to operate Cucina 25 at 12 West Main St.

“This isn’t just the end of a chapter — it’s the closing of a beautiful book,” the statement read. “One that we’ll cherish forever.”

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This decision comes after the 70-year-old family-run construction firm gave a presentation on July 22 before the Riverhead Town Board and community members demonstrating why it believes the company has the necessary qualifications, expertise, and most importantly, the financial wherewithal to serve as the master developer and complete this extensive project.

Some applause broke out from the audience following the unanimous approval of the resolution, including from Joe Petrocelli and his attorney Eric Russo. Dawn Thomas, the town’s community development administrator, got emotional as she concluded the CDA portion of the meeting authorizing J. Petrocelli as master developer.

The town presented 20 letters from the community in the record, in which a majority expressed their hesitations or opposition for the project. Others showed their support in letters and public comment, including East End Arts, the Riverhead BID, Suffolk Theater owner Bob Castaldi, JJ Armory owner Joseph Oliver and Georgica Green Ventures president David Gallo.

“[We’re] very excited … It’s probably been four years in the making, but finally, we’re ready to go,” Mr. Petrocelli said after the vote. He added there may be an idea of a groundbreaking date in the next couple of weeks. Mr. Petrocelli previously said during his qualified and eligible sponsor presentation that he is looking to start the project as early as November.

Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard addressed the audience and expressed his frustrations with some of the negativity surrounding the project, and specifically with community members requesting that the decision to appoint J. Petrocelli as master developer be pushed off.

The supervisor described those against the appointment as “the party of stagnation,” alluding to the idea that some people’s displeasure of certain political affiliations — specifically Republicans — are fueling the opposition to project.

“It seems every good thing that you want to do — everything that at the end of the day is the whole picture of Riverhead, and good for the whole of Riverhead — somebody just has to come out to oppose it, sometimes for no other reason other than I have an ‘R’ after my name, as opposed to somebody having a ‘D’ after theirs — and that’s wrong,” Mr. Hubbard said.

“This is decades in the making from when it first started … I can’t wait to get shovels in the ground for this project,” he continued. “What is best for the town of Riverhead is in the golden hand of Mr. Petrocelli, and the projects that he has built over the years and helped put Riverhead on the map.”

Now that J. Petrocelli has been deemed the qualified and eligible sponsor by the Town Board, the $2.65 million sale of three East Main Street properties to the company will go through without competitive bidding. The buildings at 117 and 121 East Main St. were demolished by the town in 2022, and 127 East Main St., where Craft’D eatery resides, may be acquired through eminent domain proceedings to allow for the $32.6 million construction of a five-story, 78,000-square-foot mixed-used building with up to 76 hotel rooms and 12 condominium units, along with restaurant and retail space and 12 underground parking stalls.

A petition has been filed to begin condemnation proceedings to acquire the leasehold interest property of Craft’D. At Tuesday afternoon’s meeting, the town board voted to approve a budget adjustment to make a $120,000 settlement offer to Craft’D’s owner SNR Bar 25 Corp.

Erik Howard, town attorney, said the town did get an appraisal, but it has not been finalized for litigation purposes yet. The $120,000 was based on this appraisal, as well as prior conversations with Craft’D, and will be presented Wednesday, Aug. 27, at the Central Islip courthouse, according to court filings.

“If we got to a number that both sides were comfortable with, we could do a settlement agreement, [which would] say the date they’re going to vacate and then we give them the money,” Mr. Howard said. “It really becomes up to [Craft’D] if it’s worth the cost of litigation to try to get more or if we can sort of come to a middle ground before we even file the petition.”

Following the July 22 public hearing, the town board requested Ms. Thomas, town attorney Mr. Howard, financial administrator Jeanette DiPaola and deputy town attorney Danielle Hurley to review and inspect certain pieces of J. Petrocelli Contracting Inc.’s financial information, as well as meet with the construction company’s legal counsel.

In a memo dated Aug. 1, the town personnel tasked with reviewing these financial documents determined they “sufficiently meet the criteria required” and demonstrated that J. Petrocelli Contracting Inc. and affiliates, including Atlantis Marine World LLC, possessed “sufficient monetary resources and available sources of funding to complete the proposed project.”

Some community members criticized town officials for not making this memo available to the public to review. Mr. Howard said the memo was filed with the town clerk on Aug. 1 and should have been posted to the town website; however, this information was available for the public to FOIL. The Riverhead News-Review submitted a FOIL request for this information, but did not receive it by press time.

Others who spoke at the meeting also found fault in the town board’s July 31 work session, where they claim board members “made their minds up” on Mr. Petrocelli being master developer the day before the public comment period ended. At that work session, town board members did give Mr. Howard the greenlight to draft a resolution to vote on Mr. Petrocelli’s appointment.

“Mr. Petrocelli may indeed be qualified and eligible to be the master developer, I’m not questioning that, but the sham and mockery you made of the legal process to reach that finding is deplorable. It underscores your disdain and disregard for public input,” said Kathy McGraw of Northville. “You made it clear your minds were made up the day before the public comment period closed, and you failed to share information that we the public were entitled to see and comment upon before a decision was made.”

Mr. Howard clarified that the CDA rules do not say the town board can’t form an opinion before the conclusion of an open comment period. Mr. Hubbard further stressed that no legal process was violated in the qualified and eligible hearing.

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Days after Riverhead officials announced they would no longer pursue eminent domain proceedings to acquire the Long Island Science Center building — allowing the organization to move forward with expansion plans at 111 East Main St. — Mr. Kenna posed one question for the Town Board: “How did we get left out of that conversation?” 

“I feel like it’s happening very fast, without the communication,” Mr. Kenna said to the board. “I’m all about the [Town Square] project — we have to somehow come to an agreement, where it comes to make sense, because I feel like I’m getting pushed to the curb.” 

Supervisor Tim Hubbard stressed that officials are working with Craft’D to find a new location on Main Street, and several properties have been considered. At the federal level, Dawn Thomas, the town’s community development administrator, said the town has also consulted with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate the possibility of securing Community Development Block Grant funds to assist in the restaurant’s relocation. 

“We have worked with a possible location, a possible tenant or owner of a building, and hopefully we ‘re very close to making that happen … there’s still time left that we could try to make this work out,” Mr. Hubbard said. “If it does in a timely fashion, we will be able to stop the condemnation and actually let this process flow naturally, where [Craft’D] can move into a different location and hit the ground running again.”

Ms. Thomas said Craft’D is one of three properties acquired by the town in 2021 for the Town Square development. At the time, the 127 East Main St. building was purchased for $2.65 million. In 2022, two of the three purchased buildings adjacent to the Science Center storefront were demolished to open a greenspace for the public. 

These two buildings were vacant when they were acquired, while Craft’D was still under a lease, Ms. Thomas added. As the Town Square project plan was refined through public engagement, she said, it became clear the Craft’D building needed to be removed for the project to go forward, which required the condemnation of the leasehold interest of Craft’D’s operating entity, SNR Bar 25 Corp. 

The 127 East Main St. building is the planned location for the proposed redevelopment of nearly 76 hotel rooms, 12 condominium units and restaurant and retail space. Ms. Thomas said that a 2021 market study conducted by StreetSense recommended a hotel on the Town Square as the “highest and best use of the property to generate the most economic activity.” 

Mr. Hubbard previously said at a recent LI Science Center press conference that it’s anticipated these plans will be presented by the appointed master developer — J. Petrocelli Development Associates — before the public in a qualified and eligible sponsor hearing in early July. 

Town attorney Erik Howard said that under general municipal law, the Town Square properties are “urban renewal properties” and do not require a Request for Proposal, or RFP, to be issued. Four years ago, the town attorney’s office did get authorization to begin negotiations with Mr. Petrocelli, but even though he was selected, the developer still needs to go through the qualified and eligible hearing. 

“In order to demolish 127 East Main St., whether you have a deal with the qualified and eligible sponsor or not, we need to condemn that leasehold; that’s what this proceeding is,” Mr. Howard said. “It wasn’t going to happen if [Mr. Kenna] agreed to terminate [the] lease early. That’s the only way that this wouldn’t be happening.”

Following the public hearing, Frank Isler of Smith, Finkelstein, Lundberg, Isler and Yakaboski LLP, the attorney hired by the town to represent them in the eminent domain proceedings, said town officials have 90 days to adopt a resolution determining whether to go forward with the acquisition and if this decision is in the public interest. 

Once the resolution is adopted, the town attorney’s office can then file a proceeding in the Supreme Court that grants Riverhead Town an order from a judge to direct Mr. Kenna to terminate the leasehold by a specific date. Once that happens, the leasehold title will be in the town’s name, giving officials full control of the building. 

The town is required to pay the owners of Craft’D “just compensation” for the value of the balance of the leasehold interest. Mr. Kenna expressed his concern about not being able to obtain a new lease agreement within the 90-day timeframe, and urged the Town Board to consider extending the court filing. 

He also stressed he and his business partner, Robert Manolio, were supportive of the Town Square project from the beginning, but felt they were slowly being “pushed out” and any claims they knew they were “getting bought out” were false. 

When Mr. Kenna alleged that Craft’D was no longer included in the redevelopment plan for the proposed food and beverage space in the proposed hotel, Mr. Hubbard said Mr. Petrocelli offered the Craft’D owners the space over two years ago, but Mr. Kenna turned it down. 

Mr. Kenna denied this, saying he hasn’t spoken to Mr. Petrocelli in over two years and even if there had been conversations about the potential use of this space, the restaurateur claimed he never received or signed an actual lease agreement with Mr. Petrocelli. 

“I fully understand where [the Town Board] is coming from. I’m all about the project, but me and Rob are gonna lose in this scenario because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Mr. Kenna said. “We invested a lot of money downtown between Cucina 25 and Craft’D — we were going to build another spot … no way; until this gets rectified, there’s no way.” 

Although a determination must be made within 90 days, Mr. Isler said town officials can stop the eminent domain process at any point and can negotiate anything it wishes with Craft’D. 

John McAuliff questioned the motives of Town Board officials in its decision-making, specifically how Mr. Petrocelli’s potential campaign contributions may be impacting this push for the eminent domain process. He also urged the Town Board to reconsider the redevelopment plan in terms of how the additional five-story building on the east side of the Town Square will impact the “vista” of the Peconic River.

“Eminent domain is inherently for public good, not for private profit,” Mr. McAuliff said. “If you’re on the other side of the street, or you’re experiencing the Town Square, the difference of a five-story building sitting there versus a two-story building is the vista question, is the feel — and I just urge all members of the [town] board to take a walk down there before you finalize this.”

Mr. Howard confirmed any town official who received $1,000 or more during an election cycle must disclose that figure, however, they are not required to recuse themselves from voting on certain matters. 

When other community members pressed further on these campaign contributions, Mr. Hubbard said Mr. Petrocelli is “far from [his] biggest campaign donor,” adding that he has only received $500 from the developer.

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New York State’s eminent domain law allows local governments to seize private property for a public use in exchange for fair compensation as determined by the courts — even if the property owners are not looking to sell. A public hearing must be held to allow for community input before initiating eminent domain procedures.

Science center president Larry Oxman and Craft’d owner Sean Kenna are both claiming Riverhead officials have not been sufficiently communicative about the process.

“This has been a surprise to me and my partner,” Mr. Kenna said at an April 1 Town Board meeting announcing the public hearing. “I was involved with the [Town Square] project from day one and then slowly, but surely, I got excommunicated out of the project in general … I just invested a lot of money downtown, and now I’m getting treated like I didn’t do anything downtown.”

The multi-phase Town Square project includes several primary components: an upper and lower Town Square, an amphitheater, pedestrian improvements, a boutique hotel, and a 12-unit condominium complex and a parking garage. The upper Town Square would be built on the grassy area between the Long Island Science Center and Craft’d buildings, across from The Suffolk. The lower Town Square would be transformed into a public gathering space that includes a proposed playground and splash pad. 

At the end of last year, Dawn Thomas, director of Riverhead’s Community Development Agency, determined groundbreaking for the initial phase would commence this August and September. The goal is to complete site plans and receive SEQRA approvals and all needed permits for the hotel, upper and lower Town Squares, and the playground by May, according to previous reporting.

Mr. Oxman previously said the town’s desire to acquire the Long Island Science Center property came as a surprise to him, as the organization is still interested in keeping the property in order to expand the museum and potentially build a planetarium.

The nonprofit LISC was founded in 1990 and opened in 2019 at its former location at 40 Peconic Ave., on the ground floor of the Summerwind Square apartment building. Several years ago, the group acquired the former Swezey’s building in downtown Riverhead, where it planned to expand. 

The organization is currently operating out of a space at Tanger Outlets and has secured more than $1 million in grants toward the expansion project.

Last summer, the Riverhead Town Board approved a resolution seeking to acquire the East Main Street property for “general municipal purposes” and directed the town attorney to take all actions “necessary and appropriate” to obtain it. 

After completing a full environmental assessment last month, town officials said the science center structure was in violation of building codes, which resulted in “non-responsive actions by the owners.” Officials said the town intends to acquire the site in order to continue with its downtown revitalization and flood mitigation efforts. 

Mr. Oxman previously called out “inaccuracies” within the environmental review and said claims that the “building is crumbling and about to fall down” are false. He provided town officials with a state licensed structural engineer’s report that showed the building is “structurally sound.” That report also recommended repairs that should be implemented in the center’s proposed renovation project to “ensure there is no condition that would result in structural decay to the building.”

Town Councilman Kenneth Rothwell said when Mr. Oxman first put forward the initial conceptual designs for the science center, more than three years ago, he felt they were “absolutely incredible.” He urged the museum president to come up with an immediate proposal for reconstruction of the site.

“I wish they would come to fruition, but I think we’re in a position where we’re looking at the building that has a potential hazard down on Main Street,” Mr. Rothwell said at the April 1 meeting. “We’ll certainly listen to the comments during the public hearing and make a decision on how to go forward.”

Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard said the board wants to see the Long Island Science Center at the East Main Street location, but it has to “prove” that the project is viable.

“There’s a lot of work been going on behind the scenes, but we don’t run and put it into the media, because it gets twisted a lot of times before things are finalized,” Mr. Hubbard said. “We prefer to do our work and when we’re ready, we’ll present it.”

Mr. Oxman had scheduled a meeting with the Town Board during its April 10 morning work session, where he said his presentation will show the Long Island Science Center has the financial ability to conduct the renovations and potentially open their doors this summer or fall.

He added that an online petition is currently circulating, launched by community members who want to “save” the museum. It has gathered nearly 370 signatures so far, he said.

“I believe that the Town Board does not have all the clear facts,” Mr. Oxman said, “and this will be an opportunity for us to present the truth.”

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