The Petrocelli hotel plan got a warm reception from members of the Riverhead Town Board Thursday and is headed for a public hearing next month on the site plan and special permit application.
Officials reviewed the proposed 94-room downtown hotel from town square master developer J. Petrocelli Riverhead Town Square, a limited liability company whose managing members are Joe and John Petrocelli.
Joe Petrocelli and other representatives of representatives of the development company presented plans for the five-story hotel proposed for 117–127 E. Main St., adjacent to the planned town square and East End Arts campus, during the Town Board’s morning work session.
The revised proposal increases the hotel room count from 76 to 94 rooms while removing the previously planned 12 condominiums. The fifth floor will now be built out as 14 suites with balconies or terraces instead of the condominium dwelling units, VHB environmental planner Christiana Kastalek told the board.
Kastalek said the commercial component remains generally similar to what was previously analyzed during the town’s downtown revitalization environmental review process and said the revised project remains consistent with the town’s prior environmental findings.
The proposal calls for construction of a 69,738-square-foot mixed-use building on an approximately half-acre site. The building will contain:
• a 116-seat restaurant with bar and outdoor terrace,• a coffee shop,• nearly 2,900 square feet of retail space,• hotel lounge and fitness facilities,• and 94 guest rooms, including 14 suites. Developer Joe Petrocelli described the project as critical to maintaining momentum for the broader downtown redevelopment effort.
See more drawings, plans and reports here.
Petrocelli said the proposed hotel would operate under Hilton’s “Tapestry” boutique brand.
He recounted some of his history with downtown, dating back to 1999, when his family’s company answered an RFP for an “economic generator” that downtown Riverhead “needed so badly,” he recalled.
Source: RiverheadLOCAL
