LI caterer takes lease on Stonebridge club

Long Island catering impresario Steve Carl, owner of Carlyle on the Green at Bethpage State Park and other venues, has expanded his empire, taking a 20-year lease on the Stonebridge Golf Links & Country Club in Hauppauge.

Carl signed the lease with the estate of Carl Lizza Jr., who died at age 73 last year. Lizza had founded the Roslyn-based construction firm Lizza Industries, which was involved in the re-creation of Stonebridge. Carl said he has an option to buy the facility.

"We're doing a major expansion of the ballroom and the dining area," Carl said this week. There are also plans to add a spa. "This is an opportunity for us to create a new and exciting venue in Hauppauge," he said.

The club is a few miles from Watermill Caterers on Route 347 and Terry Road. Carl said he will name his newest venture Carlyle at Stonebridge. The expansion is expected to be completed sometime next year. John Marin, restaurant manager at Carlyle on the Green, will assume the managerial role at Stonbridge.

The club includes an 18-hole golf course, which Carl said he will maintain.

The venue "hasn't been marketed or advertised much," he said, but he is planning to change that. The venue will host several events on Mother's Day, May 13. "We're going to bring in people who [in the past] have not wanted to come out to Suffolk . . . It will give the people who want a full-scale high-end party a reason to come there."

Carl had some other news to share. On Monday, Carlyle on the Green will host EL James, author of the bestselling erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey," which focuses on a deepening relationship between a recent young college grad and a business magnate. James will be on hand for a book signing between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The event is already a sell-out, Carl said. "I have a waiting list of 1,000 people."