Rechlers Offer Timeline For Canoe Place Inn Restoration And Townhouse Project In Hampton Bays

When developers Gregg and Mitchell Rechler gave the all clear to begin ripping down walls at the former Canoe Place Inn nightclub, they were expecting to receive reports of a crumbling foundation.

Instead, they were told that there wasn’t any foundation at all.

An investigation by Robert Strada Designs found several oak timber footings, which Mr. Strada said last week were doing little to support the historic 1920s structure. He said the first step in restoring the inn was excavating a new foundation and installing steel columns to support the collapsing roof.

Gregg Rechler of Rechler Equity Partners met with the Southampton Town Planning Board on Thursday, April 11, to go over his vision for restoring the building, as well as the progress of the 37 townhouses to be built on the eastern side of the Shinnecock Canal.

“Until you get in there and open up a wall, you’re really taking one step at a time,” Mr. Rechler said.

The restoration—which will include a new 25-room inn, a 1,900-square-foot clubhouse and a 300-seat catering hall—as well as the Hampton Boathouses, are being done simultaneously and will be built in three distinct phases, Mr. Rechler said.

The first phase, which he estimated would be complete by January 2020, will include restoring the inn’s iconic dance hall, building the framework for three of seven townhomes—to be complete by April 2020—and re-constructing the inn’s “connector,” a section of the structure that previously ran between the inn and its ballroom before it was demolished in 2016.

Originally, the developers had planned to bulldoze the building and replace it with additional townhouses. However, after facing strong opposition from the community, the Rechlers revised their plans and agreed to restore the structure. “They’re taking painstaking steps to get this right,” Mr. Strada said of the inn’s restoration.

Roadwork is also expected to start next week at the intersection of Montauk Highway and North Road, where the developers have secured permits from Suffolk County to remove the entrance ramp along Montauk Highway and replace it with a “T-shaped” intersection.

The same is planned for the intersection of Montauk Highway and Newtown Road—to begin after Labor Day. Both roads also will be widened, and stop signs will be installed at the North Road and Newtown Road intersections.

The second phase of work, to begin in June 2019 and be completed by May 2020, will include further interior and exterior work on the Canoe Place Inn, as well as the construction of the foundation and framework for three additional Hampton Boathouse buildings, which will be completed by June 2020.

Additionally, plans include the installation of a Nitrex wastewater treatment plant to be built on a hillside parcel just across North Road from the canal. That work is expected to be complete by March 2020, according to Mr. Rechler.

The final phase, which is expected to span from September 2019 to August 2020, includes building the last Hampton Boathouse building, as well as completing any remaining interior and exterior work.

“We’re very excited,” Mr. Rechler said.