'It's a perfect fit for us,' says exec director of planned permanent home of Southold CAST

A decades-old Southold nonprofit and food bank that has long operated out of rented spaces in multiple locations is closing in on securing a new, permanent home at the former Southold Opera House.

Community Action Southold Town, or Southold CAST, is in contract to purchase a 9,000-square-foot building at 53930 Main Rd., formerly home to the Southold Opera House and the Southold Methodist Church, according to Southold CAST officials. The property is listed at $3.3 million, according to realtor.com.

Once the deal is finalized, which is expected to be about September, the space would allow the nonprofit — a 501(c)3 organization founded in 1965 and that helps provide vulnerable and underserved residents on the North Fork with food, education and employment opportunities — to house and expand its programs, according to Cathy Demeroto, the nonprofit’s executive director. That includes creating a larger food pantry and sharing room for clothing and household items, more room for essential education programs for children and adults, private meeting/interview spaces, a teaching kitchen for culinary and hospitality training, and a community garden.

"It’s a perfect fit for us," Demeroto said. "The size meets our needs, it’s centrally located in Southold Town, [has] ample parking and it has all the space we need for our programming. And it really suits our vision as a North Fork community center, as the space will allow us to bring in the arts and other community events that people can have the opportunity to enjoy."

Southold CAST had planned to move to the former Greenport Methodist Church building on Main Street, but the nonprofit abandoned those plans last year after residents worried that a move to that area would create traffic and parking problems.

Demeroto said that won’t be an issue in the new location since the Main Street building is in Southold’s business hamlet.

Southold CAST now operates out of a 1,200-square-foot building on Front Street. The limited space has posed challenges for the nonprofit regarding privacy for clients and having to spread out its programs to off-site locations.

"The new space would be more efficient and more effective for us because we won’t have to constantly call around the community to ask if we can use space for this or that," Demeroto said. "We’re excited about having this space in a centralized location for the community to take advantage of programs and services as well as cultural opportunities."