With original plans for a hotel in downtown Patchogue now scrapped, the reworked proposal for the area known as the Four Corners of Patchogue now focuses solely on residential housing.
During Wednesday night’s Patchogue FIRST community meeting held at the Elks Club, a standing room only crowd was given a look at plans by TRITEC Real Estate Company to construct a housing development with 291 apartments. The plan also includes retail space, an underground parking complex of 509 spaces and community parking spaces as well.
Previously, TRITEC has planned to build a 111-room hotel along with 240 apartments. However, the sluggish national economy has dramatically slowed new hotel development across the country, and the lack of funding for new hotel construction projects was cited as the main factor in at least delaying the Patchogue project.
“We have no financing in hospitality right now,” said Rob Loscalzo, chief operating officer with TRITEC.
The new plan he outlined at the meeting is scheduled for a vote by the village board of trustees on January 24.
Loscalzo explained that with a project of this size, lenders are required to finance the buildings. He said hotel investors currently are able to invest in ground-up contracts with all of the risks associated with constructing a building, or they can invest in projects that are already partially complete. Loscalzo also noted that the original lender ran into financing issues and that there was no available debt to put on the project.
In an effort to bring a major hotel brand to Patchogue, Loscalzo said TRITEC met with 25 hotel groups including Hilton, Marriott and Wyndham to make a deal, but none was able to move forward with the project.
“It wasn’t for lack of trying, and doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future,” Loscalzo said. In 2007, the Main Street area was rezoned as the Downtown Redevelopment District (DRD), which allows for 10-story mixed-use development.
Among the 291 apartment units now included in the revamped project, 48 units would be designated for residents making at or below 80 percent of the area’s median income and 19 units for those residents making 85 percent of the area’s median income, said Loscalzo.
The village will be accepting written comments from the community for input on the property until Jan. 14 at 4 p.m. Residents can write: Inc. Village of Patchogue, 14 Baker Street, P.O. Box 719, Patchogue, NY 11772.
On Friday, Patchogue Patch will feature responses from the community during the meeting’s Q&A section with Mayor Paul Pontieri, the village trustees and Rob Loscalzo.
