A Big Investment

For well over a decade, one of the biggest lingering questions about the future of Sag Harbor, its Main Street businesses and its successful economy in general has been whether Bay Street Theater, the innovative company housed in a black box theater off Long Wharf since its founding in 1991, would remain in the heart of the village. As real estate prices soared in the once-sleepy working-class community, that likelihood was seemingly out of reach. The loss of a cornerstone cultural institution would be incalculable, and so the possibility hung like a dark cloud.

Late last week, after months of rumors, it was confirmed that an organization, Friends of Bay Street & Sag Harbor Redevelopment, had purchased the West Water Street Shops, a property with a 15,000-square-foot building off Long Island Avenue that is currently home to the 7-Eleven, Sing City, Water Street Wines & Spirits, and the Center For Jewish Life, among a handful of other small businesses.

While no purchase price has been disclosed, the property carried a $13.9 million price tag when listed in July, meaning the benefactors behind this development are making a significant investment in the future of Bay Street Theater and the redevelopment of this property.

And rightly so. While Sag Harbor has changed significantly over the last two decades, it has been a community that artists have flocked to for much longer than that. Those artists, in turn, embraced the village. There was John Steinbeck, whose name adorns the public park next door, and a long list of visual artists who enabled a number of mom-and-pop-owned art galleries to dot Main Street long before Sag Harbor became fashionable.

Emma Walton, Stephen Hamilton and Sybil Christopher founded Bay Street Theater in 1991 — its first production, “Men’s Lives,” by the late playwright and Sag Harbor resident Joe Pintauro, based on the classic book by the late Peter Matthiessen of Sagaponack, chronicled the lives of working-class baymen on the South Fork. The trio had created not only a theater but an economic driver that would support local restaurants and businesses with a parade of theatergoers discovering and enjoying Sag Harbor for all it had to offer.

In early 2019, it became clear that Bay Street Theater was seeking alternative locations, reportedly exploring the Country Gardens Agway property off Snake Hollow Road in Bridgehampton. Despite the commitment of the Sag Harbor Partnership to re-imagine and revive the Sag Harbor Cinema property, the loss of Bay Street would have been significant after almost 30 years, both culturally and economically.

All this said, Sag Harbor Village Trustee Jim Larocca is correct that planning for this new space — sandwiched between a massive condominium project, the park and several properties with uncertain futures — stands to be a part of a larger redevelopment of the west side of the village that will change its aesthetic and use for the foreseeable future.

The planning for this project must be as measured and transparent as possible, since in more ways than one it will change the landscape of the village forever. But make no mistake: It’s a watershed moment for the village, and there’s good reason to believe this big investment in a beloved theater, a big part of a vibrant village’s identity, will pay off — for everyone.