Rival proposal for Vail-Leavitt does not sway Town Board majority, which supports The Jazz Loft

Riverhead Town will move forward with its plan to sell and restore the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall through a partnership with The Jazz Loft, despite a last-minute appeal from another suitor asking the Town Board to reconsider.

Mark Chroscielewski urged the Town Board during its June 3 meeting to “consider authorizing a formal request for proposals for the sale and development of the Vail-Leavitt property.” He said his group had discussed its vision for the site during a recent closed-door executive session and had been told they would be allowed a public presentation..

“Regrettably, I was informed today that this would not happen,” Chroscielwski said of the public presentation. “We believe it is in the best interest of the taxpayers and the best interest for the ultimate success of the property to issue a formal request for proposals.”

“I personally have invested in assembling a world class team to transform downtown Riverhead into the Nashville of Long Island,” Chroscielewski said. “So I don’t even just see the Vail-Leavitt as an individual entity. I see that actually the downtown area can become vibrant with people that come here — with the hotels making it a destination, a place for tourists, a place where they can eat, a place where they can see world class entertainment.”

In April, the Town Board voted 3-2 to authorize negotiations to sell the Vail-Leavitt to The Jazz Loft, after a year of talks between the town and the organization. The nonprofit previously restored a historic building in Stony Brook built in the 1770s and turned it into a performance venue and music museum.

A separate pitch to take over the Vail-Leavitt was made by Ray Castronovo, principal of the Riverhead-based Zenith Group. Chroscielewski, of South Jamesport, and Thomas Glennon, of Brooklyn, who helped operate restored New York City music venues, said they were interested in working with Castronovo on the project.  

But Town Board members who supported The Jazz Loft pushed back against Chroscielewski. Council Member Denise Merrifield said Chroscielewski did not present financial information or a business plan to the board during the executive session discussion, and was unclear about whether the theater would be operated as a for-profit or nonprofit.

“You also said you weren’t clear, just as of last week, whether this was going to be something that Ray Castronova was involved in as a business partner, or not,” Merrifield said to Chroscielewski. “You also said at that meeting that the artists that you were going to be bringing to this particular venue were going to be unknown artists that you would move up and elevate to the Suffolk Theater.” 

“For my mind, that does not provide the type of entertainment that is going to fill our restaurants and bars in the area,” she added.

Merrifield said she “never” wants Riverhead to become like Nashville, a tourist hub known as “Music City.” 

“This is a family friendly zone. Our downtown revitalization includes an aquarium. It includes a playground, a splash pad and now a planetarium. Those things do not coincide with the Nashville environment,” Merrifield said. “And I just want to make those things clear when you say that you don’t know why you’re not presenting further.”

Chroscielewski said businesses in downtown Riverhead are failing. “There are five… soon-to-be-closed restaurants,” he claimed, without elaborating. His plan for the Vail-Leavitt will attract “different audiences” than those attracted by a splash pad and planetarium, he said. 

Council members Ken Rothwell and Bob Kern, who voted against authorizing the contract negotiations with The Jazz Loft, complimented Chroscielewski after his remarks.

“I don’t want the general public to think that I’m against The Jazz Loft. They’re a great organization,” Rothwell said. “I just want to know that doing due diligence to find out what all the offers are out there.”

The Vail-Leavitt Music Hall is within the East Main Street Urban Renewal Area, which allows the town to convey property it owns in the area to a developer for reuse without a competitive bidding process. As the designated buyer, The Jazz Loft will need to go through a qualified and eligible sponsor hearing, where it will have to prove it has the experience and financial capability to restore and manage the theater.

The Jazz Loft plans to use a $250,000 Suffolk County grant awarded to the Vail Leavitt in 2023 to restore the historic theater. It will use its “strong philanthropic support system” to support the restoration, Jazz Loft President Thomas Manuel told board members in April. 

But Chroscielewski said the full restoration will cost around $1.5 million to meet safety code requirements, adding that the funding gap is “a huge red flag destined to likely be a colossal renovation failure.” He launched an online petition urging the town to cancel the sale. As of the morning of June 11, the petition had 111 signatures.

A total of $4 million is required to fully restore and “modernize” the theater, according to Chroscielewski. 

“The sale was not publicized, and other qualified buyers were not given a fair chance to submit proposals,” Chroscielewski said in the petition. “The process has lacked the openness and competition that our community deserves, with a bias towards outside entities from Stony Brook.”

Rothwell criticized the supervisor for hosting Chroscielewski in a closed-door executive session meeting, rather than conducting a public presentation. The New York State Open Meetings Law allows public bodies to hold executive session meetings closed to the public under certain circumstances, including the “proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property…but only when publicity would substantially affect the value thereof.”

“It wasn’t a contract negotiation. I think that his presentation should have been here during the work session, in the public view, so that we don’t have this kind of banter back and forth,” Rothwell said.

“I really strongly encourage that his presentation should be before the general public, for open government,” he added.

“Just to clarify, Councilman Rothwell, [about] what you said, this was perfect for an executive session, anytime you’re talking about the possible sale of real property,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said. “So it was the correct venue to be in.”

“But we didn’t discuss costs or sales,” Rothwell said. “He shared his ideas and his proposal, which I think should be in the open public.”

“He presented costs to us prior, and we assumed they were going to be discussed again in the executive session. Whether it happened or not is a moot point,” Hubbard said. “That’s what it was put on for the sale of real property and I had no idea what they were coming in to talk about. I put it on at the request of Councilman Kern.”

“And just so the public knows, there are three members of this board who firmly believe The Jazz Loft is the right [operator] for the Vail-Levitt … and that’s why this wasn’t asked to come back on for public discussion — as we had discussed it publicly, and as I talked to individual board members,” Hubbard said. “Three of us are completely in favor of The Jazz Loft and two are not, and that’s where it stands today.”