Plans aired for new mixed-use apartment building on West Main Street

Plans for a five-story mixed-use apartment building on the corner of West Main Street and Sweezy Avenue were presented for the first time to the Riverhead Town Board yesterday.

Georgica Green Ventures of Jericho, the developers of Riverview Lofts on East Main Street and one of two developers designated to do the transit-oriented development across from the Long Island Rail Road station, and the Kulka Group of Hauppauge are proposing the construction of a 58-foot 7-inch tall building with 5,700-square-feet of ground floor commercial space and 133 market-rate apartments on upper floors.

The site plan application for the development, dubbed “The Vue,” was originally filed in December 2021. The plans have since been revised with the town, GGV principal David Gallo told the Town Board at yesterday’s work session.

Town Board members were excited by the plan, which supports the town’s efforts to revitalize areas within the downtown area.

The development is just within the Railroad Avenue Urban Renewal Area Overlay District, which was established in January 2021 by the town to incentivize development in the blighted area near the train station. The overlay district expanded the uses within the original zoning district, Downtown Center 3, to include five-story, mixed-use buildings; this is the third mixed-use building that has been proposed within the district.

The building also includes 3,700-square-feet of indoor amenity space for residents, as well as a 5,615-square-feet of outdoor amenity space on the second floor facing West Main Street, according to concept plans prepared by BHC Architects of Melville.

The building would contain 78 ground-floor parking stalls and 122 underground parking stalls accessible on Sweezy Avenue.

The building would be built on two separate properties: a vacant wooded area located at 426 West Main Street and 116 Sweezy Avenue, where there is currently a two-story, single-family residence and detached two-car garage, which would be demolished, according to a staff report prepared by Riverhead Planner Greg Bergman.

The project complies with the current zoning requirements, other than a proposed side yard setback, according to Bergman’s report. Relief from the Riverhead Zoning Board of Appeals would be required for that element of the project, as well as to exclude the projects from the requirements of a landscaping buffer from an residential adjacent property, the report states.

The staff report states that the project’s design incorporates “compliance with important aspects of the Downtown Pattern Book,” including design standards. The building’s design has incorporated a setback on the fourth floor, and a further setback on the fifth floor.

“The style of this is going to fit in so nice between the library and the historical society,” Council Member Tim Hubbard said. “It’s a perfect look, it really is. I’m really happy with the look of this.”

The development may have a significant impact on the traffic in the immediate area, Bergman said. There is no left-turn lane on West Main Street for eastbound vehicles to turn north onto Sweezy Avenue, nor a wide shoulder at the intersection to allow eastbound traffic to pass a vehicle waiting to turn left. Planning staff is recommending a traffic impact statement be done to identify potential mitigation measures.

“Probably, I picture a signal going in here. And the traffic impact statement probably really should analyze the intersection of West Main Street and Sweezy, as well as West Main Street and the Court Street Bridge,” Bergman said.

At the end of Bergman’s presentation, Supervisor Yvette Aguiar attempted to get ahead of criticism from residents for adding additional apartments in the downtown area. She said the 500-apartment cap, which some critics of downtown development have said the town is on track to exceed, only applies to the Downtown Center 1 zoning district. The apartments at the new building would not factor into that count, since the building would be located in the Downtown Center 3 zoning district, which is supplemented by the overlay district.

“This is definitely a depressed area. So something along this nature is monumental to just gentrifying the area,” Aguiar said.

Town officials also said the data does not support the theory that additional apartments are adding a large number of children to the Riverhead school district. Town officials instead blamed potential development in Riverside in the Town of Southampton for potentially stressing the school district.

Aguiar also applauded GGV for incorporating components of the pattern book in the project. The downtown study, which was created through a public input process and adopted in 2021, recommended certain design standards be codified to guide new downtown development. Those design standards have not been codified due to a disagreement between two committees advising the Town Board.

“It took us a year from our first submission,” Gallo said. “We really did go back and relook at the pattern book. And I appreciate you mentioning it and saying that, because we did try to find things that you could incorporate…like having the fourth floor setback, the fifth floor setback, the different articulation.”

Town Board members and project representatives said apartments are in demand in the downtown area. Gallo said Riverview Lofts, the income-restricted workforce apartment building GGV completed in 2020, has a long wait list.

“We have great demand for each one of the rental tiers and that’s why we feel so confident in this, this is why we feel confident with the TOD. And I know that this building is going to lease up very, very quickly,” Gallo said.

GGV was one of two firms chosen as the joint master developer of Riverhead’s transit-oriented development project: a four- and five-story, mixed-use building with 243 apartments, lined by perimeter uses on the two-acre, town-owned parking lot between Court Street and Railroad Avenue. GGV and the partner on the project, RXR, were deemed a qualified and eligible sponsor under the State Urban Renewal Law to do the project in October.

Gallo said that the prices for the apartments would be similar to those being considered for the transit-oriented development project: approximately $2,200 for a studio apartment, $2,800-$2,900 for a one-bedroom apartment and $3,200-$3,400 for a two-bedroom apartment. Apartment sizes range from 550-square-feet for a studio to 1,780-square-feet for a two-bedroom, according to architectural plans.

“I mean, we talked about that, like professional people. The hospital’s expanding all the time, these people need a place to live,” Hubbard said. “And these are going to be places that they’re going to be able to afford to live, working in a hospital or medical atmosphere where the pay is a little bit better than maybe retail, and I don’t think you’re gonna have a problem at all.”

Council Member Frank Beyrodt said the building is in a “great location.”

“I think with the water views over the Peconic River, it’s going to be beautiful. It’s gonna really be something that people look for,” Beyrodt said.

“With market rate, I think then, these are the people that will spend money downtown,” Council Member Ken Rothwell said.

Connie Lassandro, a GGV consultant and president of the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce, said the rent rates are “in line” with the current market and “not excessive.”

“And I think you’re gonna see them really rent up very quickly,” Lassandro said.

The design plans for the building also include a highlighted area immediately across the street from the building, and feeding into the Peconic River, labeled “POTENTIAL FUTURE PHASE OVERLOOK AND KAYAK LAUNCH.”

“I think it would be an awesome idea. Don’t give up on that,” Hubbard said on the possible development.

The developer will prepare and submit an amended environmental assessment form, after which the town will begin its coordinated review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, Bergman said.