Caumsett park’s Hay Barn pitched as entertainment venue

The Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve is getting a $27,000 state grant to determine if and how its Hay Barn complex could be turned into a place to hold events, from weddings to concerts and shows, officials said Wednesday.

“If we can make a few tens of thousands of dollars a year from events, we can use the money to maintain these buildings,” said Henry Babcock, president of the Caumsett Foundation.

The nonprofit group has spent the past 15 years extensively renovating historic buildings on the 1,500-acre park, carved out of the former Marshall Field III Gold Coast estate.

Without funds to maintain them properly, many of the buildings have started to deteriorate again, officials warned in a statement.

Wayne Horsley, Long Island regional director of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said: “It’s truly a public-private partnership.”

Caumsett was the sole Long Island park to win one of the 20 Park and Trail Partnership grants for groups that support parks around the state, announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Funded through the Environmental Protection Fund, the grants, totaling $450,000, will be matched by nearly $242,000 in private and local funding, Cuomo said.

At Caumsett, the money will pay for a feasibility study “to figure out how this will work, whether we are going to make money or lose it,” Babcock said.

If the venture appears profitable, the grant also will help officials decide whether to partner with an event planner or take on the work directly, he said.

Though the all-wood, 3,200-square-foot Hay Barn might be a bit unconventional, it could accommodate 150 to 200 people, and Babcock noted it has an important attribute: good acoustics.

The four buildings attached to it could be used for a classroom, food preparation or backstage changing rooms.

In addition to galas or theatrical performances, the venue could host film screenings, lectures, and civic and community meetings, officials said.

While an architect already has been working on preliminary plans, recreating the Hay Barn as an event space might cost approximately $1 million, Babcock estimated.

So the Caumsett Foundation aims to apply for another, much larger state grant, though this could require it to raise matching funds.

If that money is obtained, construction could start this winter — and perhaps the park could begin hosting events as soon as next autumn, he said.