Sag Harbor wary of losing its character

Across Long Island, people are looking for signs the economy is getting better. They want to see new construction projects, job creation and local merchants fixing up their shops.

All that and more is already under way in Sag Harbor. But it's happening so fast that some residents are asking if it's possible to have too much of a good thing.

And they're wondering if, by the time the little village finishes rebuilding itself, there will be anything left of the comfortable, laid-back place they call home.

They call Sag Harbor "The Un-Hampton." It's a thriving community of rich, middle-class and poor residents; artists and blue-collar workers; a touch of elegance and a big dab of working-class practicality. People can eat in a sushi restaurant, dine in the elegant American Hotel or just pick up a slice of pizza.

"We've kind of held on to being that un-Hampton place . . . but it's getting much tougher," Mayor Brian Gilbride said recently. "There's a sense of change in the air."

That change includes an old redbrick factory -- shuttered for decades -- being revived and converted into 65 condominium units, a gym and underground parking. A historic library is doubling in size. Hotels have new construction planned.

Yet, its biggest summer tourist attraction, the Bay Street Theatre, could be moving away.

"A lot is changing in a really small time," said Maryann Callandril, one of the owners of Canio's Bookstore, a magnet for local authors for decades. "In two years, we'll be out of the economic slump we're in . . . but it's [new construction that's] really going to change the look and feel of Sag Harbor."

The biggest single development in Sag Harbor is the rebuilding of the Bulova watchcase factory, on 2.3 acres near the water. After being boarded up for 30 years, it is being converted into luxury condominiums.

Little changes are coming too. The Java Nation coffee shop, open 17 years, is set to close at the end of this month, although owners said they hope to reopen elsewhere in the village.

Java Nation is the kind of place -- homey, informal and decorated with pictures by local artists -- where people could sit for hours, discussing music or local politics or just grousing about the weather.

On a recent weekday, several artists sitting near the window talked about the village.

"It's right on the cusp," said David Slater, a painter and 30-year village resident. "People are still holding on, but five or six things are in transition. . . . Our dry cleaners will become a gourmet specialty shop. I fear we are becoming East Hampton; the business sector is losing its soul."

But David Lee, who was born in Wales and has lived in Sag Harbor for 65 years, said the village is alive and well, and -- unlike the rest of the Hamptons -- remains busy all year long.

"East Hampton has all of those stores that are closed all winter," he said. "Thank heaven we don't have any chain stores."

The chain store in East Hampton is Tiffany or Coach or Elie Tahari -- and not everything is closed, just as not all of Sag Harbor's restaurants are open in the winter.

Still, Lee insists, his village is busier than most other places on the East End. "I went to a movie in Southampton, and there wasn't a car on the street. . . . I ate in a restaurant here, and it was absolutely full."

State Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor), who grew up in the village and remains a resident, said the question is not whether there will be changes, but "how do you manage them? This is the biggest success story of any village or hamlet on the East End."

And he doesn't think the big changes such as the Bulova project or the nearly $10-million expansion of the John Jermain library will mask the fact that a lot of little things are staying the same.

"We still have a real Main Street," Thiele said. "We don't have a Ralph Lauren, but we still have a hardware store. In fact, we have two."