Riverhead Resorts will be centered around a 90-acre man-made lake. A 350-foot to 400-foot indoor ski slope and indoor water park will be designed to operate in all four seasons. Other features include hotels, timeshare housing, a spa, an equestrian center, a seaport, farmer's market, and a 100,000-sf exposition hall.
"We've put together a great team," Don Secunda, partner with Weber Law Group, tells GlobeSt.com. Weber is representing the proposal. "All the people involved have experience in putting together resorts."
"We are absolutely convinced of the underlying market demand for the destination we propose," says Jody Kriss, Bayrock vice president. "Long Island is ripe to profit from the 50 million annual visitors to the New York City region." Kriss' hope is for Riverhead Resorts to get 1.2 million to 1.8 million of those visitors annually.
"Just to get a piece of land like that in the Metro New York area is incredible. I don't know how it could be replicated," Secunda says. The Riverhead Resorts pitch includes $100 million for purchase of the 755 acres. Environmental protections zones are set for the pine barrens, tiger salamander and other sensitive wetland features.
The decision now sits in the hands of the town of Riverhead. One other proposal is before them, from Scott Rechler, the CEO of Reckson Associates during its acquisition to SL Green. He is proposing an 80,000-seat Nascar speedway and a substantial residential component.
Scott Rechler is not to be confused with Rechler Equity Partners, which is run by four of his family members. GlobeSt.com wrote about that company's acquisition of a separate 330 acres of the Grumman site last week, to build a 2.5-million-sf industrial park.
A crucial difference between the Riverhead Resorts proposal and Scott Reckson's speedway proposal is that Riverhead Resorts would not have any residential. Riverhead's schools won't be bobbing with extra heads to teach, and residents won't be facing higher property taxes because of it.
Secunda tells GlobeSt.com he expects 1,900 construction jobs for the build-out, and 2,200 permanent jobs once everything is operational. He sees construction as two and a half to three years after the first shovel hits the ground.
Bayrock's previous development experience has been with a waterfront development in Whitestone, Queens; the Trump Soho Hotel Condominium; Trump Las Olas Beach Resort and the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Fort Lauderdale, FL; as well as mixed-use projects such as Midtown Miami and 1285 Sutter in San Francisco.
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