Renewal and revival in Riverhead

Generations of Riverhead families have walked down Main Street, shopping, eating and conducting business. Besides the faces, not much has changed.

Several old redbrick buildings downtown proudly proclaim their heritage -- the Suffolk County Trust building built in 1910, another building nearby with no name above it, only the words "Bank Building-1892." Even Tweeds Restaurant, modern on the inside, wears the exterior of the old J.J. Sullivan Hotel, built in 1896.

But now things are beginning to look different. Really different. Butterflies, bustling restaurants and the only downtown Main Street hotel in Suffolk are re-energizing the area.

The July opening of the Hyatt Place hotel started the momentum, which continued building through the summer as restaurants opened along Main Street and new stores moved into buildings that had been vacant for years.

But the new butterfly exhibit at the renamed Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center has been the pièce de résistance of Riverhead's comeback.

Flocking to see fluttering
Lois Baisley of West Islip recently saw the exhibit with her cousin, Bonnie Pazymski of Milwaukee, as part of an itinerary that included trips to area beaches and farms. "I wanted to get out of the crowded suburbs and show her Long Island," Baisley said.

Though they didn't have much time to look around, Baisley said she would like to come back.

The new exhibit, which opened in July, is called "Butterflies and Birds" and will feature 1,000 varieties of butterflies and 100 kinds of birds when every species is brought in and all the caterpillars hatch. Bryan DeLuca, aquarium executive director, said the exhibit will run for two to three years.

Riverhead Town planning director Rick Hanley said it looks like Riverhead is finally turning the corner: no longer just talking about a rebirth of downtown, but seeing it.

"I see a lot of activity on the streets," Hanley said. "It's more than just aquarium traffic. I see a renaissance in downtown Riverhead."

It's happening in a downtown where -- except for the aquarium and hotel projects and the construction of a cooking school for Suffolk County Community College -- there hasn't been a wholly new building put up in more than 20 years.

Everything else, from the renovations now going on at the 800-seat Suffolk Theater to the opening of several new restaurants, has involved reviving old structures, activities that are just starting to add some apartments above some stores.

At the new star of downtown, the butterfly and bird exhibit, the butterflies swirl around visitors. Dancing patterns of living color, red and purple, white, yellows and gold-winged butterflies float on air, and sometimes come to rest on an outstretched arm.

A thick double curtain of plastic strips keeps the butterflies separated from the birds -- green Quaker parrots and orange sun conures, bright yellow Indian ringnecks and multicolored Jenday conures. The birds can't provide the vast fluttering display of the butterflies, but their chirps give visitors a greeting the butterflies and moths can't.

Inside the exhibit it's warm -- the air is kept at 80 degrees and 80 percent humidity. Outside, the crowds have to go back and find their cars. And that's where things really get heated, depending on whom you talk to.

Wanted: A parking spot
Parking has been the biggest problem that has come with the town's new success. But not everyone considers it a curse.

"That's a good problem," said Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter.

In a town where more stores closed than opened for the past decade, it's an understandable reaction. Still, he admits, something has to be done.

Along with the increased foot traffic, cars have been flooding the downtown area. The initial response from local businesses was to put up signs. Many still remain.

"No aquarium parking" and "parking for stationery store owner," they proclaim. One funeral home put up its own signs warning that drivers not attending a funeral would have their vehicles towed away.

The reaction from some homeowners who live near the bustling new aquarium, hotel and butterfly exhibit is even harsher.

"They never should have built it there," said Tom Morrison, who lives on Second Street. "They should have put it out near Splish Splash (the water park in Calverton, miles away from downtown). They're destroying all the local store owners."

Riverhead has a large downtown municipal parking district, and the downtown Business Improvement District has created its own parking as well. But it's spread out, and many of the spaces that are normally available are a long walk from the aquarium and exhibition center.

Walter understands the problem. "When I go to Radio City [Music Hall in Manhattan], I drive to the theater and then I look for a place to park," he said.

The town board's traffic safety committee is looking at the parking situation -- some streets have so many parked cars that only one vehicle at a time can pass on weekends -- and is considering banning or otherwise restricting parking to just one side of a street.

Town officials are also thinking about creating their own shuttle bus. The aquarium charges $8 for its shuttle rides.

Despite the scarcity of spots, local businesses are looking at the bright side. From their view, tourists are beginning to wander up and down Main Street, just looking. Some are even shopping.

Ray Pickersgill, president of the Riverhead Business Improvement District, said he realized that downtown Riverhead was changing for the better a few weeks ago when he was sitting at a table on the sidewalk outside the Athens Grill with some friends.

"People kept asking us where is this place and where is that place, " he said.

SEEING BUTTERFLIES

When. Daily.

Where. Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center,  431 E. Main St., Riverhead; 631-208-9200.

Hours. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission. Adults, ages 18 to 61,  $12.50 plus tax.

Children, ages 3 to 17, $10.50 plus tax.

Seniors, ages 62 and older,  $10.50 plus tax.

Children 2 & under -- Free

The center also has an exhibit of stingrays in the Ray Bay touch tank, and a sea lion show.