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 Business & Technology Patchogue a 'diamond in the rough'
By combining its old attractions with new projects, the mayor is developing long-term benefits for old village. Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri is helping his village find something he says it lost 20 years ago – its identity as a place, not just a handful of destinations. By combining the village’s traditional attractions – popular restaurants, a railroad station, and 29 acres of waterfront parkland – with land use decisions that officials say will deliver long-term benefits, Pontieri and the board of trustees have succeeded in positioning have succeeded in positioning Patchogue as what one developer called “a diamond in the rough.” There is building going on all over town: New, town house style developments near the Patchogue River and the waterfront, land consolidation by interested developers, a new community center in the southeast corner of the village. All told, more than 250 units of housing are going up inside the 2.2-square-mile village, and negotiations are continuing on additional projects. Talks also are under way about how to turn the north side of Main Street west or North Ocean Avenue – the site of the abandoned Swezey’s department store building – into a thriving commercial hub. “I look at Patchogue, and since the late 1800s up until about 20 years ago, it had the identity of something,” Pontieri said. “It was the Hamptons if the late 1800s; it was the vacation spot,” with more than 1,000 hotel rooms. Over time, he said, it became a commercial center destination for residents from eastern Suffolk to shop and board ferries to Fire Island. In the 1980s, “when the shopping malls and the big box stores came, we lost that identity, and we’ve never been able to recreate it,” Pontieri said. “That’s what we’re doing now.” Many residents and business owners said they believe the mayor is making great progress: He has negotiated with developers large and small to turn formerly blighted parts of the village into modern – for Suffolk County – unusually dense residential neighborhoods.
Henke said he misses the pre-1960s Patchogue, but that the energy of that era is “something they’re trying to get back” – and dense multifamily developments like the ones the village has approved are necessary to “bring in more permanent customers into Patchogue, people who will shop.” In fact, whether among longtime residents or recent arrivals, it is difficult to find voices who object to the course the village government has set. “People are going to develop proposals,” Pontieri said, “and they deserve a return on their investment. But there’s a balance between that and the possible impact on the community.” That’s why he and the Patchogue trustees have pushed developers to produce exterior designs consistent with the village’s history, and to demand some reinvestment that every resident can enjoy. Bay Village, a new development going up on South Ocean Avenue, is a prime example. Until the Bohemia-based developer Capital Management Development Llc hired local read estate professional Rich Buono to consolidate the properties, the prime location contained two large boardinghouses. Although the developers initially asked to build 22 housing units per acre on the 3.6-acre site, village officials bargained them down to 18. “There was a substantial cost to purchase the property, so we had to give them additional density,” Pontieri said. But he and the trustees, along with the zoning board and vocal citizens, placed additional demands on the developers: The buildings would be situated so that they looked almost like single-family homes to passing motorists. They would include higher-grade siding than the vinyl that often coast similar projects and other details to help the development blend into the neighborhood. And the developers would pay for a new boardwalk along a nearby bay front park. And although the process was time-consuming and complex, the developers were happy to comply, according to Peter O’Hara, who runs Capital with his brother Michael. “It’s a win-win,” he said. “I understand that, because adding amenities to the community can only help the development.” O’Hara said he believes Patchogue’s elected officials want to make it “the next Babylon Village,” which is where he resides. “The village just needs some tender loving care, and that’s what his leadership is doing right now.” Among Suffolk’s South Shore communities, Babylon Village is known for its wide range of retail establishments, walkability and relatively affordable rental housing stock. O’Hara said he hopes to find another opportune spot to develop in Patchogue. Mike Kelly, the vice president for land acquisitions for Pulte Homes of New York in Medford, worked with the village, the county and the Long Island Housing Partnership on a mixed-income development now under construction near downtown Patchogue. He echoed O’Hara’s enthusiasm, saying “If the village is saying they want to do business, you know they want to do it the right way.” Pontieri said he would be happy to discuss with Pulte the possibility of developing something similar to their current project just to its west, on a large parcel occupied by the headquarters of Clare Rose, Long Island’s exclusive Budweiser distributor. The company will continue occupying the space until it can consolidate Patchogue and Melville operations into a new building farther east in Brookhaven, but several developers said it’s a positive sign that the mayor is already thinking about what the most beneficial use would be. “What’s been happening in Patchogue has been terrific,” said Jim Morgo, Suffolk’s commissioner of Economic Development and Workforce Housing. “We’re concentrating on downtowns and other mixed use, higher-density settings” like Patchogue, he said, and the village has provided an example for other communities to emulate. Pontieri said he has a broader strategy for selling these projects and moving them forward: He demands good design and reinvestment, “So I can say to the community, ‘we’re creating a feeling of what Patchogue was in the 1890s – a reminder of a feeling.’ ” Back • Home |
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