Pridwin project proceeding as board signs off on construction plans
The Pridwin Hotel project got another green light to proceed with its extensive renovations.
On Sept. 11, the Town Board unanimously voted on a resolution to allow a special permit so that large-scale construction and reconstruction can proceed. The resolution stated that the owners had met the town’s concerns and work can go forward because having the venerable hotel above Shore Road open for business is “in the best interest of the Town.”
But the project still has to get a final go-ahead from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, which engineer Matt Sherman, representing the Pridwin owners, Glenn and Gregg Petry, said will be forthcoming shortly.
In the board’s resolution, former concerns about parking, landscaping, lighting, stormwater runoff and emergency vehicle access were resolved.
The plan for the Pridwin will include, among other items:
• Seven new cottages will be constructed, as well as a new laundry/utility building
• A previously closed coffee shop will be reopened
• The second floor will be expanded by 1,249 square feet and the third floor by 1,349 square feet
• The front of the building will be expanded “under the decks” by additional 2,468 square feet
• The basement will be excavated, finished and expanded by 1,801 square feet
• A pool patio will be installed, and 880 square feet of deck will be installed for “four seasonal cabanas”
The project, now in its 19th month in front of boards and agencies, has endured a long process, even for major construction or reconstruction projects. The delays have been exaggerated by the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, but Supervisor Gerry Siller has said the Town Board had to take some responsibility for the glacial pace of the project, noting that the “process was not run smoothly” and “it’s our fault.”
He was speaking about delays caused by different town entities weighing in, and by applications to county regulators, with little coordinated leadership by the town.
Planning Board member Edward Hindin said at a public hearing that the prolonged process is something “we ought to recognize … if things had been done differently, we wouldn’t be here now.”
It’s hoped that The Pridwin will be open for business sometime in 2021.
