The real estate developer Jeremy Morton discussed his plans for the commercial buildings at 2 Main Street and 22 Long Island Avenue in Sag Harbor at a village planning board hearing on Nov. 26.
"We really are in an advantageous position," Mr. Morton said, "to keep the existing, improve the existing, and expand the way we'd like to, and it works pretty well structurally."
The building at 22 Long Island Avenue was the longtime location of the Sag Harbor 7-Eleven; 2 Main Street is home to K-Pasa, Espresso da Asporto, Yummilicious, and a UPS Store whose co-owner spoke in support of Mr. Morton's plans.
Mr. Morton wants to add second-floor space to both buildings. He said at the pre-submission conference hearing last week that 22 Long Island Avenue already has the structure and architecture that will be able to "retain and hold the weight of a second floor.”
"At 2 Main Street," Mr. Morton said, "something that isn’t known to most because of that strange roof is we do have a second floor on the building so that particular portion is already set up and structurally sound for a second floor." He would fill in the center of the horse-shoe shaped building at 2 Main Street with what he described at the meeting as an "access hallway" that would allow for a secondary structure with second-story space above it.
The structural review of 22 Long Island Avenue has already begun, and Mr. Morton assured the planning board that he plans to stick to the aesthetics and building regulations of Sag Harbor Village.
"I wanted to take a moment and vouch for him, since it is his first project in Sag Harbor," Marianne Barnett, a co-owner of the UPS Stores in Sag Harbor and Southampton, said during the public comment portion of the meeting. She said she had seen the work he did in redeveloping a building in Southampton and had been impressed.
"I did not know him, but I did witness an amazing transformation of a building that was maybe a quarter occupied and it is now fully occupied."
She said she had already been approached by Mr. Morton, and that they have been discussing keeping the UPS store in the space at 2 Main Street. She said she is "very hopeful that his vision and his project is able to proceed in a manner that is obviously compliant, and I think it would be a great benefit to the village."
The planning board voted to close the public hearing on the projects, with a 10-day window to submit a written comment to the board.
