Riverhead eminent domain plan for former Swezey’s sparks tense hearing

Riverhead’s move to seize the former Swezey’s building at 111 E. Main St. turned a routine public hearing into a sharp fight over property rights, downtown control and the future of a long-stalled museum project. The Town Board spent nearly three hours defending the proposed condemnation at Riverhead Town Hall on Wednesday, with officials saying the vacant parcel had to come under public ownership as part of the Town Square plan and flood-mitigation strategy.

The town’s notice said the acquisition was for general municipal purposes and identified The Place for Learning Inc., the nonprofit behind the Long Island Science Center, as the reputed owner. Town documents classified the proposal as a Type I action under SEQRA and issued a Negative Declaration, signaling the town’s view that the taking was not expected to create significant adverse environmental impacts. Still, critics at the hearing said the board had not identified a concrete public use for the property and argued that eminent domain was being used as a redevelopment shortcut rather than for a clear public-purpose taking.

The hearing followed a split 3-2 vote on April 21 that moved the issue forward, with Supervisor Jerry Halpin and Council Member Bob Kern dissenting. The dispute has centered in part on a $1 million Suffolk County JumpSMART reimbursement grant tied to a June deadline, which town officials questioned the science center could meet. Supporters of the Long Island Science Center said the organization remained on track, even as the town revived condemnation after earlier allowing expansion plans to proceed.

The science center has said it is operating from a pop-up location at Tanger Outlets in Riverhead and still intends to build a permanent 24,000-square-foot museum at 111 East Main St. The planned facility would include exhibition space, classrooms, a MakerSpace and a planetarium. For Riverhead, the site sits inside a broader Town Square project announced at nearly $33 million, with groundbreaking on December 12, 2025 and financing that includes $4.2 million from the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative, $400,000 from Suffolk County, $97,500 from Suffolk County Downtown Revitalization funds and about $24 million in federal RAISE money.

The larger Riverhead vision is to open Main Street toward the Peconic Riverfront and add flood-mitigation features, an adaptive playground, a splash pad, an amphitheater and pedestrian links. What Wednesday’s hearing made plain was that the town is not just weighing one vacant building on East Main Street. It is asking whether the promise of a coordinated downtown plan justifies taking control of a property a private nonprofit says it still intends to develop.