All roads lead to Riverhead: Distinctive, attractive community with a strong sense of place

All roads lead to Riverhead and then some. Starting with County Rd. 58 where Riverhead has blossomed with hotels and destination retail along its commercial corridor, complimenting the number one Tanger Outlet Center in the nation. This year alone, new big box stores erected including Super Walmart, Dick's Sporting Goods, Christmas Tree Shop, Bob's Discount Furniture, Aldi's, Five Below and more. They were followed by the ever popular chain restaurants like Joe's Crab Shack and Buffalo Wild Wings. All of this brand new development can be seen as one comes off of the last exit on the LI Expressway. Take State Rte. 25 or a short detour off Sunrise Hwy. and that leads you right into our quaint, walkable historic art district, the newly revitalized downtown Main St. Downtown Riverhead continues to get a complete overhaul as another new mixed-use project takes shape. The Woolworth Revitalization Project currently under construction, will soon offer more affordable second floor apartments that sit above a brand new health club, Maximus Health and Fitness Center, as well as the famous Goldberg's Bagel, both slated to open this month. Still, there is more brand new retail space available to fill in our walkable neighborhood connected to the Peconic River. Fostering a distinctive, attractive community with a strong sense of place; integration of mixed land uses that provide a variety of transportation choices coupled with improvements for safe pedestrian, bicycle and paddler access along waterfront, Main St. is also currently undergoing a facelift with brand new, wide sidewalks. An incubator for the arts, Riverhead stars the East End Arts Council front and center, situated across the street from the newly renovated 1960's Art Deco, cabaret style Suffolk Theater. This summer visitors will experience a new public art project, called JumpstART, featuring diverse collections of visual and performance art created, installed and performed in downtown locations. From the interactive "We Are All Connected" sculpture and painting exhibit on the grounds of East End Arts to numerous public mural projects, music and dance performances and the "Gingerella Peaceful Planet" installation, JumpstART is an example of "creative placemaking," according to Pat Snyder the director of the East End Arts Council. Like all the roads that lead to Riverhead, the new art installation will be like we are all connected! Becoming known for its amazing food, Riverhead has almost every ethic restaurant represented along its "Restaurant Row" in downtown with most of the eateries recognized by foodies as the best in their class. From the fine dining at the TRP to the newly opened Joe's Garage, outside dining is abundant too. Just this month Joe's Garage was one of the feature restaurants in the Newsday article "Seeking out LI's 15 best-hidden restaurants." Four out of fifteen of the restaurants were in the town of Riverhead! Having roots in agriculture, our homegrown items are ever popular at the new Farmers' Market which only highlights the work being done at the Stony Brook Calverton Incubator with its Agricultural Consumer Science Center and Kitchen. This objective is enhanced by J Kings, Grapes & Greens, a free-standing 108,000 s/f, temperature controlled cooling warehouse now available to local farmers, growers and manufacturers. Grapes & Greens extends the reach of New York Metro area vineyards, breweries, and local food manufacturers by providing them with the storage, processing, marketing, sales, and logistic services they need to help build their business. There are business opportunities abound in downtown, along the Rte. 58 commercial corridor and the up and coming State of the Art Industrial Park in Calverton (EPCAL). Be sure to watch for Requests for Proposals coming out on town property and for EPCAL which is ripe for doing business. Let us help you bring business to Riverhead as the town is fortunate enough to have both a Community Development Agency (CDA) and an Industrial Development Agency (IDA). While the CDA focuses on grant procurement and administration, its primary function includes capital projects such as downtown waterfront revitalization, Calverton park development, infrastructure development to encourage business growth, the restoration of public spaces such as parks and venues like the Vail Leavitt Theatre, home improvement programs to assist senior citizens and low-to-moderate income homeowner-occupants with emergency home repairs, and projects to improve the environment and the quality of life of the Riverhead town residents. The Riverhead IDA offers tax incentives and financing to businesses looking to relocate or expand and has been instrumental in keeping the pace of progress happening in Riverhead. The IDA will continue to assist investors and leading business to Riverhead while it creates its state-of-the-art Industrial Park. ​Tracy Stark-James is the executive director/CEO of Riverhead Industrial Development Agency, Riverhead N.Y.​