Riverhead moves forward on long-planned YMCA at former armory site

The Riverhead Town Board approved a non-binding letter of intent with the YMCA of Long Island, putting the long-vacant former armory at 1405 Old Country Road on Route 58 on the clearest path yet toward a new community use.

The 5.7 to 5.9-acre site, just west of Stotzky Park, has sat largely idle since the Riverhead Armory closed in 2011. Built in 1957 and once used by National Guard units, the building was transferred to the Town of Riverhead that same year with a plan that never materialized: police headquarters and justice court space. Those plans became less urgent after the town opened its new Town Hall in 2023, and the YMCA idea emerged as the most practical reuse for a property that has resisted change for years.

Under the concept now taking shape, the YMCA of Long Island would renovate the building itself and operate it under a proposed 99-year lease for a nominal value of $1. The organization’s preliminary plan calls for multipurpose rooms, a community kitchen, a STEM lab, a teen room, a gymnasium, an indoor track, sports courts, fitness areas, aquatics and administrative offices. For Riverhead, that would turn a closed public building into a regional facility with programs for children, teens, families and older residents.

The project still cannot move forward on local approval alone. The deed attached to the 2011 transfer limits how the land can be used, so state legislation is needed to allow a YMCA lease and the kinds of recreational and educational services now being proposed. A version of that bill passed the New York State Senate in 2025, then stalled in the Assembly before session ended. The 2026 version was reported to the Assembly rules committee by May 12, keeping the effort alive in Albany.

Bob Kern has pushed the project for years, and YMCA development chief Debbie Kneidl has said the letter of intent gives the organization enough control to begin seeking funding and approvals. That matters because the town is not planning to bankroll the redevelopment itself. The YMCA would be expected to finance the renovation, a major test of whether the project is a real construction path or another symbolic step in a long line of unrealized ideas for the old armory.

If the legislative changes clear, the site could finally shift from a vacant shell on Route 58 to a heavily used civic asset. For Riverhead, the question is no longer whether the armory can be reused, but whether this time the funding, lease terms and state approvals will line up before momentum fades again.