Bel-Aire Cove Motel Closing Depends On When Monthly Tenants Move Out

The owners of the Bel-Aire Cove Motel in Hampton Bays, in an effort to expedite the closing of the motel’s sale to Southampton Town, have begun the process of evicting current year-round tenants.

The town’s purchase of the motel on Shinnecock Road for a little more than $1 million was approved by Town Board members in a 4-1 vote in April, with the idea that the property would be cleared and the town would work with the community to come up with a design for condominiums or townhomes to replace the motel, which has evolved into month-to-month residential rentals.

Many residents in the hamlet spoke against the move during numerous public hearings on the purchase, and instead asked the town to use Community Preservation Fund money to purchase the land and allow it to revert back to its natural state, but that effort stalled.

Now, Town Board members have their sights set on closing on the property. But there’s one main hurdle in the way: the current residents.

“We can’t exactly close. That’s part of the conditions of us acquiring it, is that we are acquiring it without tenants,” Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said on Friday. “I think there was one provision that it could have up to, I think, maybe up to three tenants, provided there had been eviction notices issued by the Suffolk County sheriff.”

Town Attorney James Burke said his understanding was that the tenants had been asked to leave by the end of June.

As far as arrangements, he said the town would work with the landlord, in this case Jagannath Jayaswal, to make sure all of the tenants are properly relocated.

Mr. Jayaswal could not be reached for comment this week.

“While it can be a difficult issue, as we all know, the town will use whatever resources the town has to assist with the relocation, including delaying the closing until proper housing is found, if necessary,” Mr. Burke said.

Mr. Schneiderman echoed Mr. Burke and said the town would delay the closing date if needed.

But getting the residents to vacate the motel is not the town’s responsibility, Mr. Schneiderman said—it’s the owner’s.

“The owner’s not going to see any of the money until it meets the condition for closing,” he said. “Our understanding is that everybody was on a month-to-month, and nobody had a long-term lease.”

Diana Weir, the director of Housing and Community Development for the town, said most of the tenants at the Bel-Aire Cove Motel are single men, other than two families with children. “If I’m going to do anything, those are the people I’m going to be focusing on,” she said, referring to the families. “We don’t have housing here, in the town, but I’m going to reach out to a couple of groups … to see what’s available.

“It’s his responsibility to make sure they’re out, but we don’t want to put people on the street, especially with kids, in the middle of summer,” she added, referring to the motel’s current owner.

Mr. Schneiderman proposed purchasing the 19-room Bel-Aire Cove Motel in August 2018. The motel had been on the market for a while, he said when he announced his proposal to purchase it, but nobody followed through with buying the blighted property, because it did not conform with local zoning, and developers feared not being able to get the proper permits to develop the land.

Mr. Schneiderman’s solution was to purchase the property, level the buildings, get all of the necessary permits in place, come up with a plan for condominiums or townhomes, and then sell the property to a developer with a plan already in place.

The motel has had a checkered past, having been cited for numerous code violations, such as bed bugs and roach infestations, electrical violations, non-functioning smoke detectors, and overcrowding.

It was also believed to be polluting Penny Pond, which feeds into Shinnecock Bay. In 2016, the Concerned Citizens of Hampton Bays paid for and conducted a study that alleged the motel’s septic system was responsible for elevated levels of fecal coliform, nitrogen and added ammonia in the waterway.