Six-Figure Donation to Center

John Catsimatidis, the owner of the grocery chain Gristede Foods, made a six-figure donation this week to the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center.

Mr. Catsimatidis, who lives in Quogue and Manhattan, gave $105,000 to restore and refurbish one of the center’s four buildings. Its 12-acre property is just off the Sag Harbor Turnpike.

Earlier this spring, the nonprofit reached out to Mr. Catsimatidis, who also heads the Red Apple Group, a real estate company, to ask for his support.

In March, Forbes magazine ranked the mogul among the richest people in the nation, with a fortune estimated at $3 billion. Last year he ran for mayor of New York City on the Republican ticket, losing to Bill de Blasio.

The child care center, founded in the 1950s as a safe haven for the children of farm workers, now provides year-round child care for working families as well as classes in computer, chess, dance, choir, and art for pre-school to high school-aged youngsters during after-school and evening hours.

Mr. Catsimatidis’s donation will renovate a dilapidated structure that has been unable to be used for several years. The center’s board of directors has voted to rename the building Margo’s Cottage, in honor of his wife, when the renovation is complete.

Two other buildings await similar repairs. Another donation of $105,000 would restore a rundown structure of similar size. Another building, an old farmhouse, now houses administrative offices. The fourth, which houses Bridgehampton Head Start, was last renovated in 2005 following an annual benefit hosted by the late Peter Jennings.

The hope is that the restoration of all four buildings, which sit around a shared quadrangle, will help bring the historic property into the 21st century.