For the most part, Supervisor Sean Walter and other town officials specifically addressed the businesspeople in the crowd of about 150. The officials told of potential tax breaks, fast-track zoning and what they said was a new attitude of working with business.
"The answer to downtown is in this room," said Mr. Walter, who hosted the event along with Sheldon Gordon of Riverhead Enterprises, which owns several downtown buildings, a number of which are vacant.
"When I feel the energy of the people in this room, it's here. I can't tell you this summit is a success yet, but the meetings I've had with developers that were as a result of this event is so encouraging," he said.
Mr. Walter said the town will do everything it can to help developers who seek to locate downtown.
"My job is to move government out of your way," he said. "You're going to see this supervisor flex and bend in a way you've never seen before."
Mr. Gordon, whom many in Riverhead blame for downtown's current state of disrepair, also spoke at the event.
"I want to assure you," he said, "Riverhead Enterprises has been in this town for many, many years. And we are very excited about what's going to happen. We will cooperate, and we will listen, and we will try to make these things happen, because they're long past due."
Still, some were skeptical of Mr. Gordon's commitment to participate in a renewed Riverhead.
Ron Parr, one of Long Island's most established developers, who attended the summit, said afterwards: "It's wonderful that the town has all their players together, but the big 'but' is that you can't make any project work with the numbers the property owners are asking on the land."
He said the prices being asked by Riverhead Enterprises for some of the properties downtown equates to about $4 million per acre.
"Where in Nassau and Suffolk counties are you going to find that?" he said. "It ain't going to work financially, even with increased housing density."
Mr. Parr, who built the downtown Culinary Arts building and was one of the developers the town considered for the master developer designation that ultimately went to Apollo Real Estate Advisors under the Cardinale administration, said that if he could acquire land downtown, he still would be interested in building there.
He said a combination of residential rentals and neighborhood business, such as pizza shops, would work best.
He also said he believes he could bring a movie theater downtown, something Apollo originally sought to bring and was unable to do.
"We know we could bring a movie operator," he said. "Riverhead is one of the most underserved areas in terms of movie theaters."
Mr. Parr said he was "impressed with Mr. Walter's enthusiasm and desire to bring something downtown."
One potential new business for downtown could come out of Peconic Bay Medical Center. The ever-growing hospital will be seeking space to help move its skilled nursing facility to another location in the near future, said hospital president and CEO Andrew Mitchell. The hospital also is looking for space for an assisted living facility. Mr. Mitchell said the hospital could consider a downtown site if one became available.
Other speakers Friday included Anna Maria Villa of the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency, Tracy Stark of the Suffolk County-Town of Riverhead Empire Zone, and town Community Development Agency director Chris Kempner, who each explained some of the tax incentives their offices can offer.
"You can come to downtown virtually tax free," Mr. Walter said of the incentive programs.
The town also is working on legislation to "fast track" commercial site-plan applications in downtown, said Mr. Walter and town planning director Rick Hanley.
Under that plan, if an applicant submits a fully engineered site plan that meets all requirements, the Town Board will either approve or deny the application within 60 days; otherwise it will be approved automatically, Mr. Walter said.
That proposal only applies to downtown, he said.
"The intent here is to be as business friendly as possible," Mr. Hanley said.
Projects already planned for downtown include Atlantis Marine World's proposed hotel adjacent to its aquarium, Summerwind's 53-unit affordable rental and retail complex proposed for Peconic Avenue, and Dee Muma's restaurant and office/apartment duplexes on the corner of Peconic Avenue and East Main Street.
Bryan DeLuca, the general manager of Atlantis Marine World, told the News-Review that Atlantis' Hyatt hotel site-plan application was formally submitted to the town last Thursday and, he said, Atlantis has a letter of commitment from a bank to fund the hotel.
Summerwind developer Ray Dickhoff said he's just waiting for he county to finalize the deal on the affordable subsidies later this month. Then he'll be ready to break ground. Ms. Muma has already begun renovations on her project.
Kevin Davis of Apollo Real Estate Advisors said they hope to announce a new project for the former Woolworth building within the next two weeks. He said it will not be a hotel or a movie theater, as was once planned, but will likely be more of a traditional retail development.
The owner of Suffolk Theatre, Bob Castaldi, told the News-Review he's hoping to settle his litigation with the town shortly, a move that would allow him to begin renovating the 76-year-old structure. The theater has been shuttered for more than 20 years.
tgannon@timesreview.com