Greenport Village, struggling with a surge of vacancies, debates tactics

By early afternoon on a recent Tuesday, Greenport was bustling. Tourists sauntered between boutiques, friends caught up over coffee at sidewalk tables, music spilled from open doors.

But even against a busy backdrop, empty storefronts, "for lease" signs and dim windows are hard to miss as business owners and village officials grapple with a surge of downtown vacancies.

As the summer begins, with day trippers trekking from western Long Island and tourists arriving on marina docks, business leaders are launching a plan to fill empty stores, ideally beyond the three-month sprint from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Nearly a dozen storefronts remain vacant, largely concentrated across the waterfront on Front Street. Though there are glimmers of hope as several new shops and restaurants plan summer openings, a publicly funded business district is pushing to bring a burst of new business to the North Fork village.

Rich Vandenburgh, the president of the Greenport Business Improvement District, described a “perfect storm” of challenges, including several retiring shopkeepers, coupled with rising rents, seasonal pressures and consumer trends.

“We’ll find ways to bridge the gaps and get good quality folks in there, and hopefully have them be there year-round," Vandenburgh said in an interview. “Unfortunately, some of the landlords are looking for rents that are Southampton, East Hampton kind of rents that are just prohibitive."

In January, The Market, a health food store and cafe, closed after a 38-year run. It followed the closures of Kharmah, a clothing boutique, and Di Angela, a leather goods store, after the stores' owners retired. Five other storefronts at 110 Front St. are also empty after an eatery, Tikal, closed, and another, Casa Amigos, moved to Third Street.

There are also several vacancies on Main Street, including a former candy store and pizzeria.

Among the most prominent vacancies is The Arcade, a longtime general store that closed in 2017. The sprawling landmark, founded in 1928, once sold everything from beach towels and toys to sewing kits and household goods.

Today, real estate posters fill the large windows of the 16,600-square-foot building. An online listing asks for a monthly rent of $27,667.

The village's business district has partnered with a Manhattan real estate firm, Helmsley Spear, to market available spaces, recruit new tenants and make Greenport more of a year-round destination. The organization, funded through a line on property tax bills within the district, promotes tourism, business growth, beautification and other village initiatives.

“We wouldn’t bring in another coffee shop; we don’t want to compete with the other ones, we wouldn’t bring in other T-shirt shops, another brewery,” Neil Ergezer, a broker with the firm, said during a recent community forum. “We don’t want to cannibalize the existing businesses here.”

Some see the vacancies as a consequence of a recent moratorium on new builds and changes to zoning law.

Bridget Elkin, a village resident and real estate agent, said village policies and uncertain approval processes have “stalled commercial momentum.” She said she disagrees with the district's strategy.

“Healthy downtowns are strengthened by competition, new ideas, and entrepreneurs willing to take risks, not by gatekeeping or attempting to engineer the perfect tenant mix from the top down,” she said.

Healthy downtowns are strengthened by competition, new ideas, and entrepreneurs willing to take risks, not by gatekeeping or attempting to engineer the perfect tenant mix from the top down.

— Bridget Elkin, a village resident and real estate agent

With Greenport at an inflection point, a debate is brewing over the best path forward: Have village policies stifled development? Is an aggressive marketing push enough to turn the economic tide? Or should the village consider more forceful measures, such as seizing properties by eminent domain?

Seasonality an issue

For Vandenburgh, marketing available storefronts and bringing "animation" to the area is the main strategy.

"That begins to turn the narrative into 'There are things happening,' " he said in a recent interview.

Helmsley Spear unveiled its plans during a community forum in late April. They include cataloging vacancies, surveying property owners and matching prospective tenants with available spaces through a marketing effort.

"That's ultimately all to help the village become stronger financially," Kent Swig, the president of the group, said in an interview.

Swig said he supports tactics to combat the seasonal challenges, including staggered rents that are lower in the winter.

While the vacancies are concerning, turnover in commercial areas consistently ebbs and flows, several merchants said.

Rena Wilhelm, whose boutique, The Weathered Barn, is marking 15 years this summer, said the effort should focus on drumming up year-round interest.

“Part of that is changing the narrative that you can only make your money in three months,” she said in an interview, adding that she doesn’t support seasonal pop-ups. “That’s just masking the problem.”

Sustaining business year-round highlights the need for affordable housing and winter attractions, including plans to revive a seasonal ice rink in Mitchell Park.

“It’s probably not going to change unless there’s some major overhaul to how people are housed here,” Matt Michel, who owns 1943 Pizza, said in an interview. 

Greenport's seasonal population of about 2,000 swells to 10,000 in the summer, according to the business district's website.

The village has struggled with a lack of affordable housing, and real estate prices are rising rapidly in the region. Last year, the median price of a home on the North Fork surpassed $1 million for the first time, Newsday reported.

Michel said tourists still visit seaside towns like Newport, Rhode Island, and Mystic, Connecticut, in the winter months. “There’s great restaurants, there’s shopping year-round, and people are staying open because people are there,” he said. “One hand feeds the other.”

Zoning policies debated

The village enacted a development moratorium in December 2022 while updating its commercial zoning code. The moratorium expired the following October. 

The village recently allowed more types of retail near the waterfront and required permits for live entertainment, but also clamped down on parking requirements.

Under Greenport's code, developers who can't meet parking criteria can either seek a variance or pay the village a fee based on the scope of the project.

Michel said the moratorium and new zoning rules hindered his plans to open a larger restaurant with six apartments above. The project could have required costly parking fees totaling more than $1 million, he said. Instead, he is preparing to file scaled-back plans that conform to village code.

Tougher plan urged

Dave Kapell, a former mayor of Greenport, is urging a more forceful tack. The village, he said, should seize 110 Front St. and The Arcade by eminent domain and seek proposals to redevelop the properties, preferably with housing above storefronts.

“What’s needed is a strong, highly targeted initiative by the village to address the problem, and one way to do that is to tackle the blight,” Kapell said. 

The current mayor, Kevin Stuessi, said some of the vacant properties are good candidates for mixed uses that include affordable housing. But he balked at the idea of seizing them outright, citing a potentially large taxpayer expense.

Several new businesses are slated to open this summer, including a 2D art gallery and retail store on Front Street.

Down the street, chefs Jose "Cheo" Avila and Ai Ito are blending their Venezuelan and Japanese roots at Stereo East End. Avila and Ito are putting the final touches on the restaurant, slated to open in mid-June, in one of the storefronts at 110 Front St.

"It's like a little desert," he said. "We hope to be a catalyst."

Stuessi has pushed back against critics of the zoning changes and said the moves made it easier for several businesses to open more quickly.

One example is Encanto Crepes, which recently moved from a storefront on south Main Street to a more prominent location at the corner of Front and Main.

Stuessi said the owner was able to convert a former leather goods store into a restaurant. It needed a building permit, he said, and not planning board approval.

For entrepreneurs like Gus Acero, who owns the crêperie, the shake-up presented a new opportunity. He moved in after his aunt closed her leather store last year and retired after nearly four decades.

Acero sees the vacancies as a temporary setback. “Greenport hit a rough patch, but I also think we are on the verge of going back up."

Economic forces

The lull may be indicative of broader economic forces, said Eric Alexander, director of downtown planning group Vision Long Island and founder of the Main Street Alliance. Alexander hailed Greenport for maintaining independent retail far longer than other communities.

“Starbucks came in, and people chose Aldo’s,” he said, nodding to the coffee shop that's been a staple on Front Street since 1987. “It’s a very independent place.”

Though the Arcade closed in 2017, it had faced closure threats at least two decades earlier. A 1999 Newsday article described how a local couple "saved Greenport's Arcade Department Store, an aging anchor on a struggling main street, from following other old-time variety stores into the grave."

While Greenport has its charms, Alexander said, no downtown is immune to inflation and other economic headwinds.

“When gas is $4.50 a gallon, if you live in Nassau County, are you going to take the two-hour trip out to Greenport and drop a few hundred dollars on retailers in a climate like this right now?” Alexander said.

As the business district readies to launch its action plan, Vandenburgh urged patience.

“It’s probably going to happen in little dribs and drabs," he said.

This summer, he said, will prove to be a "bellwether" of the seaside village's economy. But the true test will be what happens come November.