The Patchogue hotel is one step closer to happening since the Suffolk County Planning Commission allowed the change of zone request on January 8, and the village board’s approval to change the designation for the 2.19-acre site of a former bowling alley next to the Patchogue River on Division Street from E Industrial to the village’s floating hotel zone on January 13, Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri was poised to take the next step.
Tempo by Hilton Hotel developer West Avenue Partners LLC and its architect, along with the village attorney, the village board, and the planning and zoning boards, planned an imminent meeting.
“The goal is to make an 18 month-to-two-year project no longer than that. It might be modified but not to any great degree,” commented Pontieri. “It’s what Hilton and the developer agreed to. We have to stay within the parameters.”
The site is next to the Patchogue-Watch Hill Ferry terminal, operated by Fire Island National Seashore (FINS), under the National Park Service (NPS) jurisdiction. A parking lot separates the ferry entrance from the planned hotel. Pontieri discussed some details that are yet to be nailed down.
“The hotel will work with the Fire Island National Seashore to clean up that area. We’ve talked to them [FINS]. This gives them opportunities to hold events there. I’ve had numerous conversations with the FINS superintendent about the hotel project, supporting Fire Island National Seashore and Watch Hill to make it a destination. He has said publicly he would support the hotel.”
Business Improvement District executive director David Kennedy also mentioned that talks were underway about a path from the hotel to the ferry entrance.
“The developers have already talked to FINS,” said Kennedy. “They have property, so there will be a path. The developers proposed a parklike setting and an understanding they would want to partner with them.”
Kennedy, who served as the Patchogue Chamber’s executive director for 11 years, switched roles last May.
“Now you’ll be able to walk from the LIRR train station across the street to the hotel, then walk to the Watch Hill Ferry, go to Fire Island, and access the downtown. There’s always live music and entertainment, and people who spend a weekend here will say ‘wow,’” Kennedy added.
Pontieri said the 700 new condos and established residents were probably the driver for Hilton.
“Those families are looking to put up guests for the holidays and celebrations,” he said. “This would be the only hotel south of Sunrise Highway between Southampton and Rockville Center.”
While the hotel is next to the Patchogue River, Pontieri pointed out it wasn’t in the flood zone.
“That parking lot wasn’t underwater when Superstorm Sandy hit. The rooms will start on the second floor. Amenities like a café will be located on the ground level and a small conference space, small bar and restaurant.”
The LIRR MTA yard across the street, which is an eyesore, is also being addressed.
“We’re working with them,” Pontieri said. “Now that (the approvals) are underway it will be made as invisible as possible.”
Trees and plantings are planned to soften the landscape, and changes were made from the original plan, said Village Attorney Brian Egan in an email.
“The new plan has reduced the height of the Hotel from six stories to five, the total number of hotel rooms from 116 to 96, and the apartments from 16 to 13; the rooftop dining/lounge area has also been reduced and setback further from Division Avenue,” he wrote. “The evolution of this particular site is an interesting arc of Village history from the sprawling heavy industry of the Bailey Lumberyard there, to the rise and fall of the Bowling Alley, and now to a riverfront hotel. Nothing stays the same, and most times that evolution is a good thing.”
Bowl Long Island closed in November 2021 after suffering roof damage and the financial impacts of COVID-19. A family-run establishment, it had been a bustling, popular establishment for decades.
“The hotel will create full-time jobs on multiple levels,” said Pontieri.
The hotel’s front entrance is planned for West Avenue, off Division Street, across from an apartment building. Mechanicals for a sewer line are in place, and the hotel wouldn’t necessarily be full.
“If they have 65-to-70 % occupancy, they’re profitable,” Pontieri said. “That’s why Hilton included the apartments, to give them year-end income.”
“I live two blocks from the hotel, and I’m a believer,” Kennedy said. “In most of the discussions I’ve had with neighbors, the hotel wasn’t necessarily the issue, but where it’s located… a hotel will increase traffic coming to the area. However, the developers anticipate 25-to-30 % of customers traveling by train. That’s why they feel they have enough parking.”
