Brookhaven tears down former Rocky Point nightclub

A former downtown Rocky Point nightclub that years ago was the site of a nonfatal shooting that left four people injured was demolished last week.

The demolition of the Oxygen Bar came after numerous town building and code violations had been filed along with several residential and business owner complaints, Brookhaven Town officials said.

The bar, on the northwest corner of business Route 25A and Broadway, was closed in 2011 due to an expired place of assembly permit after the shooting of four people had occurred. It has been a vacant eyesore ever since, town officials said.

“This will be a very welcoming corner in downtown Rocky Point instead of having a blighted building in disrepair that was structurally unsound,” Town Councilwoman Jane Bonner said in an interview Thursday.

Brookhaven purchased the property in November for $525,000 and Bonner has been working with the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Rocky Point to transform it into a veteran’s memorial square, serving as the gateway to the downtown business district.

Last year, Bonner said the property would be transformed into a park with benches, trees and plants.

However, on Thursday, she said her plans had evolved.

Brookhaven finished curbing, sidewalk and road paving upgrades along Broadway in 2014 as part of an overall plan to re-establish the area as an attractive retail, dining and entertainment destination.

“Removing blight, whether it is here in Rocky Point or the Kmart in Middle Island, has such an immediate, positive impact on the community,” Town Councilman Michael Loguercio said in a statement.

The abandoned Kmart has also drawn complaints from neighbors as well as code violations from Brookhaven Town officials. It is expected to be demolished by its owner soon.

In addition to the shooting, the nightclub was also the site of a 2010 melee that left a 20-year-old Bronx man hospitalized with stab wounds.