Rumor became news last week when it was announced that the Town of Southampton has made an offer to buy a commercial building at 2 Main Street in Sag Harbor, using its Community Preservation Fund. The building, known locally as “Fort Apache,” is seen by many as an eyesore at one of the village’s gateways, yet it currently houses a handful of local businesses, including K Pasa, Espresso Da Asporto and Yummylicious.
Purchased by a group of investors last summer for a reported $18 million, the property will not be purchased for preservation at that high a price, according to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman.
In the application for the CPF purchase, it is noted that, if approved, the building would be razed, and the land would be added to the neighboring John Steinbeck Waterfront Park. It has also been discussed that the purchase would support the development of the West Water Street Shops property as a new building for Bay Street Theater. The owners of 2 Main Street are connected to members of the Friends of Bay Street, which bought the West Water Street Shops in the fall of 2020 for $13.1 million. Members of that nonprofit have also scooped up a number of properties behind Main Street on Bridge and Rose streets.
In some ways, the public benefits of this purchase seem obvious — residents and visitors will enjoy expanded waterfront parkland, creating a much more enticing waterfront. It would undoubtedly serve more people than, say, the proposed Steinbeck Writer’s Retreat, which stems from a plan to launch a nonprofit in the former home of famed author and Sag Harbor resident John Steinbeck, which is also being pursued through a public-private partnership involving the Town of Southampton. That’s a great project, too, but an enhanced waterfront seems to have much more public benefit.
But, unfortunately, it is not that simple.
First, there is the challenge of how parkland preserved through CPF will — could — be used. Fall festivals and community gatherings should be allowed, for example. If Steinbeck Park is to be expanded, the management plan for the whole park should be addressed so that it does not preclude these types of activities. For-profit events should be limited on public land, certainly, but appropriate events that support community nonprofits and organizations like the Chamber of Commerce should not be barred from using the parkland for community events.
Second, there’s no ignoring that if the plan goes through, businesses will lose valuable commercial space, including a coveted wet use that allows restaurants and similar businesses to operate out of 2 Main Street. While promises could be made that these businesses will be accommodated elsewhere, be wary of those promises in the long run. With no approvals in place for new commercial properties, and with commercial space in Sag Harbor Village already expensive and in short supply, if this building is razed, it’s hard to believe these locally owned businesses will emerge from the rubble.
Lastly, there remains a tremendous lack of clarity — and transparency — surrounding the plans for Bay Street Theater’s new home, and what members of the Friends of Bay Street plan to do with a raft of properties purchased on the west side of the village.
Any suggestion that this property is not wrapped up in all of that is fiction — simply by proximity alone, by the fact that there has been the suggestion that this purchase would support Bay Street Theater, a nonprofit this newspaper has long supported, and the fact that people connected to the Friends of Bay Street own it. Meanwhile plans for Bay Street are plans shrouded, one no public body has seen despite the fact that the moratorium on waterfront development ended several months ago. And we do know the ownership group that currently holds 2 Main Street is connected to the Friends of Bay Street. The implied quid pro quo, swapping 2 Main Street for a new Bay Street building at the West Water Street Shops site, is the first official peek at the many tectonic moves taking place beyond public observation.
With those development applications not yet filed with the Village of Sag Harbor, let alone approved, residents have a right to feel uneasy about getting behind plans for those connected to these developments to sell 2 Main Street to Southampton Town — who will then turn it over to the Village of Sag Harbor for management — at a loss. Does that pave the way for village officials to look kindlier, rather than critically, at plans coming down the pike?
Certainly, that is not what Mayor Jim Larocca had in mind when he envisioned a greater Steinbeck Park for the residents of Sag Harbor. His is a vision rooted in trying to give the community a large waterfront park to enjoy in a place where fewer waterfront parcels are public. That’s laudable.
But despite those good intentions, this is, unfortunately, much more complicated — and there’s still far too much to discuss, publicly, before it looks like a fair deal, let alone a good one.
Staff Writer on Apr 5, 2022