Village: Ground Could Be Broken On New Westhampton Beach CVS By November

Building permits allowing the former bowling alley on Sunset Avenue in Westhampton Beach to be transformed into a new 20,000-square-foot shopping center are slated to be issued this week, roughly three months after the project was given the green light by the Village Planning Board.

At the Westhampton Beach Village Board work session on September 21, Mayor Maria Moore announced that the property owner, Sunset West LLC, had submitted the final piece of required paperwork to the village’s Building Department earlier in the week. If all goes as planned, renovations to the long-gutted building, which is expected to be anchored by a CVS Pharmacy but will feature several smaller shops and a 50-seat restaurant as well, could begin as early as November, according to officials.

Village Building Administrator Paul Houlihan said his office is now reviewing all of the paperwork and he expects the building permits will be issued sometime this week, giving the applicants roughly 15 months to complete the first phase of the work before the approvals expire. The first phase calls for the completion of renovations to the main building; the two subsequent phases call for the construction of two new retail buildings to the north of the main shopping center.

Plans have been circulating for roughly a decade, with multiple false starts over that time.

Once completed, the former bowling alley building will feature a 10,000-square-foot CVS Pharmacy, a move that required a special exception permit from village trustees so Sunset West LLC could deviate from the usual 3,000-square-foot maximum. The exception was granted in March and, in June, the Village Planning Board gave its final stamp of approval.

Starting June 9, the applicant had six months to file the necessary paperwork, and 18 months to finish construction on phase one, according to the village’s terms.

In addition to the CVS and restaurant, the main building will house two wet use stores and three retail shops, according to plans on file with the village. Contractors will also landscape the entire 1.8-acre property until ground can be broken on the final two buildings. The developer will also be responsible for burying power lines along the west side of Sunset Avenue.

“We are glad to be moving forward,” Southampton-based attorney John Bennett, who is representing Sunset West LLC, said when reached this week. “We think it will be a very positive asset to the Village of Westhampton Beach.”