Huntington Bay Village Hall To Get $525K Renovation

By Janee Law

jlaw@longislandergroup.com

Village of Huntington Bay board officials held a ceremony on Friday to celebrate the start of a $525,000 renovation of village hall. Pictured from left to right: Danielle Catanese, deputy village administrator; Gail Devol, village administrator; Christopher Jack, police chief; New York State Senator Carl Marcellino; Herb Morrow, mayor; Ken McAvoy, of MacX Construction; and Neal Hoffman, of Hoffman Grayson Architects.

Village of Huntington Bay will soon start a planned $525,000 renovation of village hall, including the addition of a 750-square-foot extension and basement.

Huntington Bay’s current village hall at 244 Vineyard Road in Halesite is 2,000 square feet in size. The renovation project is scheduled to be completed by Thanksgiving, said Herb Morrow, the village’s mayor.

“What the trustees are doing is investing in the future of the community by having a place that is good to work in, comfortable for residents to come to and that fits the ambiance of this village,” Morrow said at a ceremony held Friday.

To fund the project, Morrow said, the village is using $325,000 in bonds sold last summer, along with with $75,000 from the village’s budget surplus last year; $27,000 from the state Department of Justice; and a $100,000 grant from the office of New York State Senator Carl Marcellino

Renovations to Huntington Bay Village Hall, depicted above in a rendering, are expected to be completed by Thanksgiving. Rendering/Hoffman Grayson Architects

“It’s a pleasure to assist the village in their construction project,” Marcellino said. “It’s money well spent from our perspective. You hear what’s going on in these districts by meeting with people like the mayors and other constituency groups that keep you informed as to what the needs are and what the concerns of the public are. So it’s most important that we stay in touch.”

Since the village was founded in 1924, Morrow said the front section of the village hall was built in 1926. The left section of the building was put together in the ’60s, and the back portion was built in the ’70s.

Morrow added that an internal renovation including carpeting and painting was done in 1997, but officials now want to expand the building.

“The police space they’re in now is terrible,” Morrow said. “So we’re going to make it nice for those guys. We’re going to reconfigure the room so the court is a little better, and build a basement so we can have storage on sight.”

Architect Neal Hoffman, of Hoffman Grayson Architects, and Ken McAvoy, of MacX Construction, will be spearheading the renovation.

“When it’s done, you’ll see that this will all look new, prettier and nicer,” Morrow said. “It will still have the same kind of look of what it was when the village was first started.”