Riverhead board holds hearing on proposed 94-room Peconic River Hotel

Riverhead’s downtown future came into focus at Town Hall as the Town Board took public comment on a proposed five-story, 94-room Peconic River Hotel for 117-127 East Main Street, next to the planned Town Square and the East End Arts campus. With a restaurant, coffee shop, retail space and a terrace at street level, the project was presented as a way to add activity to Main Street, but it also put parking, traffic and neighborhood impact squarely at the center of the debate.

The hearing covered only the hotel’s site plan and special permit applications, a key step because the property sits in the Downtown Center 1: Mainstreet zoning district, where hotels are allowed only by Town Board special permit. The Town of Riverhead said the project spans 18,480 square feet and calls for a 69,738-square-foot building tied to the Master Developer Agreement for Town Square, the broader downtown redevelopment now taking shape on the south side of Main Street.

Plans call for hotel rooms and suites on the upper floors, some with balconies or terraces, while the first floor would hold a restaurant with a bar and terrace, a café, retail space, a lobby, lounge and internal gym. Town documents also show nine parking stalls on the lowest level, a modest supply for a building of this size and a point likely to draw scrutiny from nearby residents and businesses along East Main Street.

The hotel proposal has already been revised. The town’s environmental consultant compared the current plan with an earlier 88-unit hotel-condominium development, indicating the project was cut back to a 94-room hotel without condos. Riverhead officials gave the plan a favorable first look on May 14, 2026, before advancing it to the public hearing, where residents were able to weigh in before the board decides whether to approve, deny or modify the application.

The Peconic River Hotel is one of the most visible pieces of the larger Town Square effort, which broke ground on December 12, 2025. Town materials describe that project as a pedestrian-friendly downtown center with landscaped green space, an amphitheater, a public playground, walkways, a boutique hotel and mixed-use commercial space designed to reconnect Main Street to the Peconic River. J. Petrocelli Riverhead Town Square LLC, the town’s designated master developer, was unanimously named a qualified and eligible sponsor in August 2025, and RiverheadLOCAL reported that the LLC’s managing members are Joe and John Petrocelli.

For Riverhead, the hotel is more than a single building. It is a measure of whether the town square plan can deliver a busier, more connected downtown without overwhelming the streets, lots and character that already define Main Street.