The prospect of a nightclub-type establishment on Montauk’s Main Street had members of the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee concerned and sharply questioning its liaison to the East Hampton Town Board when it met on Monday.
A page-one story in last week’s issue of The Star reported that a purported investment packet for Este Restaurant, now under construction at 666 Montauk Highway, describes an establishment far more ambitious than that approved by the planning board. The approved plans show seating for 16 on the second floor and 23 on a roof deck, and two bars designated as service bars, meaning patrons would not gather at them. But the investment packet, the authenticity of which could not be confirmed, lists a combined capacity of 455 people on the ground floor, second floor, and roof deck. The document also describes a “large D.J. venue,” “similar to Surf Lodge,” operating at night and with room for 250 people.
Enduring Hospitality Group Management L.L.C. owns the restaurant property and the adjacent hotel, Offshore Montauk, through other limited liability
What began, on Monday, as a discussion about how to address traffic issues on the adjacent South Emery Street and nearby South Elmwood Avenue, which with Main Street create an awkward, three-way intersection with poor sightlines, quickly morphed into an airing of concerns about a “Surf Lodge on Main Street” and recollections of long-ago assurances that a 7-Eleven convenience store would never come to Montauk.
“Whenever something new goes up, it’s always bigger than planned,” one person said. “How come this rooftop is bigger than planned?”
It isn’t bigger, said Councilman David Lys, the town board’s liaison to the committee. It went before the planning and architectural review boards, he said, and “the building permit to build what they’re building right now was authorized,” but “if they build outside of what they’re allowed to do, that’s when the town will come down with code enforcement.”
Like the 7-Eleven before it, “If what we’re reading is true, it is going to again change the dynamics of our community,” was the sentiment repeatedly voiced about the plans for Este as indicated in the investment packet. Mr. Lys was asked to come back to the committee with a definitive answer as to “what is really happening there . . . not what’s been submitted and what we’re hearing anonymously, but what’s going on.”
Mr. Lys agreed, reiterating that “anything outside of what their approvals are, code enforcement will be able to take care of that, or it goes to the Building Department and they can potentially have permits revoked. But if they’re building as approved, their building is approved, and that’s constitutional law.”
Too many businesses consider paying a fine as the cost of doing business, some members of the committee said, and the fines assessed by the town are “ridiculously low,” one said.
Lou Cortese, a member of the planning board, told the gathering, “I’m glad that everybody is concerned about overdevelopment and turning the Montauk that we love, the Montauk that we’re used to . . . into something that is overcrowded and Surf Lodge-like. I take that sensibility into my job as a planning board member. I’m very, very strict when it comes to reviewing these applications.”
He described the restaurant’s application as “anodyne.” “They met every code section that they needed to meet,” he said. “What’s caused this controversy is that there was an article that was published in The East Hampton Star, because The Star received materials that supposedly were meant for investors to invest in this particular project. And it showed a completely different operation, a completely different project, much larger in scope than what was presented in front of the planning board. So what we approved is much different than what these materials had to say. If that’s the case, they have a problem.”
He agreed with Mr. Lys that the Ordinance Enforcement Department would take action if the business were to operate contrary to how it was presented in applications to the town. “I appreciate your concern,” he told the committee. “I’m with you on all of that, but so far, I don’t think it’s as bad as you might think it is.”
Mr. Lys had referred to Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez’s January 2024 State of the Town address, in which she warned of “the risk of our town becoming a commodity, not a community, as private equity investors pour in millions of dollars buying up local businesses.”
Mr. Cortese pointed to the coming election for supervisor, in which Mayor Jerry Larsen of East Hampton Village is challenging Ms. Burke-Gonzalez in a Democratic primary.
“I think this next election is very important,” Mr. Cortese said. “If you feel as strongly about keeping Montauk the way we’ve enjoyed it and love it, you better take a look at who you’re going to vote for in the next election, because as much as there’s been a discussion here tonight to prevent these kinds of things from happening, there’s a whole faction out there in East Hampton that wants the exact opposite. They want to develop more. They want to commercialize the town. What David said about the commodity versus the community, there are a lot of people who are for the commodity.”
