Second Street firehouse owner, brewery tenants make pitch to Riverhead IDA

The owner of the Second Street firehouse and his first tenants made a pitch to the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency yesterday for property tax abatements and sales tax exemptions.

Bob Castaldi, who purchased the former firehouse from the town earlier this year, and Long Beard Brewing Company founders Paul Carlin and Craig Waltz, laid out plans for the two-story brick structure, where Long Beard plans to open a brewery and 900-square-foot tasting room early next year.

The brewery, Riverhead’s fourth, will occupy about 4,000 square feet on the first floor of the old firehouse, which is about to undergo a complete “historically correct” restoration, Castaldi told IDA board members during yesterday’s meeting.

Castaldi, who renovated, restored and reopened the long-vacant Suffolk Theater on East Main Street, said he is working with other prospective tenants for the remainder of the space. He said he’s been speaking with the Long Island Wine Council and the Long Island Farm Bureau about how the unique space could be utilized as an agricultural tourism center, he said. Riverhead Town last year obtained two N.Y. state economic development grants totaling $700,000 that could be used to fund 20-percent of renovation costs associated with developing such a center.

The Cutchogue builder told the IDA the brewery will bring a lot of visitors to the blocks north of East Main Street, where the mixed housing stock includes both stately old homes — some dating back to the 1800s — and run-down rental housing in obvious need of repair. Some of the blocks around Second Street have in recent years been the scene of gang crimes, muggings, drug busts and even a drive-by shooting.

“This project will light up that whole area,” Castaldi said. “We’re right on the edge of the best neighborhood in the whole world,” he said. The firehouse, he said, will bring in tourism, jobs and investment to turn around an area that needs it badly.

“It’s exciting to be coming here at the beginning of something like that,” Long Beard partner Carlin said of the revitalization effort.

“We’re a fledgling business, just starting out. Any help you can give us will make this work,” he said. Carlin and Waltz  started their brewing company in 2012. The Second Street location would be the first brewing facility they build and own themselves. They have investors who are helping them finance the cost of renovation and equipment, Carlin said.

The tenants would directly benefit from property tax abatements, Castaldi said. Under the “net-net” terms of standard commercial leases, tenants pay a pro-rated share of property taxes and other costs, he said. Exemption from New York State sales tax would assist the brewing company in its purchase of equipment for the facility, including brewing tanks and fermenters that will cost $150,000 to $200,000, Carlin said.

The firehouse site, which was acquired by the Riverhead Fire District in the mid-1930s, has been tax-exempt since that time, Castaldi noted. If the IDA grants its standard benefits package, improvements to the site which increase its current assessed valuation would receive a 50-percent property tax abatement. The abatement is reduced by 5 percent per year for 10 years.

The IDA board voted yesterday to schedule an Aug. 3 public hearing on the application, which as of yesterday was not fully completed, IDA executive director Tracy Stark-James said. She said there was still some information needed from the builder, but it would be finished up in time for moving forward with a public hearing.

Editor’s note: This article has been amended to correct the spelling of brewery cofounder Paul Carlin’s surname.