Harbor Club Pays For Town Parking Lot Repair

By Chris Mellides

cmellides@longislandergroup.com

The Bohlsen Restaurant Group is donating $11,000 to repair a Huntington Town municipal parking lot on New York Avenue off the harbor in Halesite.

The lot sits adjacent to Harbor Club, a waterfront venue that hosts weddings and corporate events that is owned by BRG.

Company co-owner and restaurateur, Kurt Bohlsen, said that the lot was home to “some large potholes” and that some of the curbing had been destroyed during previous construction work there.

“When the town had made repairs to the bulkhead along the waterfront they redid the parking lot and only went back about halfway,” Bohlsen said. “They hadn’t done any repairs; all they did was [work on] a strip.”

After seeing the condition of the parking area, located just a few feet from the entranceway of his restaurant hall, Bohlsen says he contacted the town to see when repairs to the lot would resume and when the work was expected be completed.

That’s when Bohlsen received some surprising news, he said. “There answer was that that was all they had in their budget.”

“Based on the fact that it looked half-completed we thought that if there was a way we could help to make it look better we would do it,” Bohlsen said.

The Huntington Town Board approved a resolution to accept BRG’s donation last week, and town spokesman A.J. Carter said a contractor has been hired to carry out the repairs, but the repairs have not yet begun

“The town didn’t have the money available to do it and [BRG] volunteered to do it, which the town is much appreciative,” Carter said.

After buying the property three years ago, BRG completed a major renovation of The Harbor Club two years ago. Bohlsen said the municipal lot needed work, and BRG was happy to help.

“We thought it would be really nice if we were able to donate whatever funds it took to finish it off and make it look nice, because Huntington is a nice place and we want it to stay nice.”