Grant money secured by the Patchogue Business Improvement District has already been instrumental in attracting new businesses to the village — and if things work out, might next be used to bring a Ping Pong-themed bar to Main Street.
The plan to build-out the vacant space at 8 West Main Street (pictured above) for the Ping Pong bar is on the table, but there are factors that still need to be considered to make it happen.
That’s all according the BID’s executive director, Dennis Smith.
Smith confirmed tht the owner of the building had been investigating the option to see if a Ping Pong bar might be something that could work in the village. Smith wasn’t sure if the idea would come to fruition.
“It might not be the right fit,” he told GreaterPatchogue.
The ping pong bar would be similar to one recently opened in Levittown, called Smash.
The property owner is keeping an eye on how that facility performs before making any final decisions, we’re told.
Plan B, according to Smith, could be to subdivide the property and attract smaller tenants.
The property’s owner, Joel Furman, was not available for comment.
Part of the money to refurbish the building would come from the New York State Office of Community Renewal’s Main Street program. The money, according to the organization’s website, is used to “revitalizing historic downtowns, mixed-use neighborhood commercial districts, and village centers.”
Since 2004, the program has distributed a total of $82 million in funds.
Smith said Patchogue Village had $250,000 earmarked for improvements from the program, of which almost $70,000 has been distributed to date.
The grant cycle started in 2016 and is almost at an end.
Owners of certain properties in the village around South Ocean Avenue and West Main Street to Oak Avenue are able to apply for the grant.
Property owners in the eligible area can submit an application to the BID to request up to $50,000 in matching grant money to add to their own investment.
Property owners must front the money for any improvements and the funds are disbursed only after work is completed.
The idea is for owners to consider rehabilitation projects they might not have before.
So far, projects have ranged from small to large.
At 83 South Ocean Avenue, the owner used funds to install a new awning and for asbestos remediation in the basement. At 15 North Ocean Avenue, money was used to re stucco an exterior facade and close up some windows.
Only the old Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame building at 58 South Ocean Avenue has utilized the full $50,000 grant to date, although Smith said another full disbursement is forthcoming.
That building’s owner, who asked not to be identified by name, told GreaterPatchogue that the grant helped defray the costs to rehab the property, which included subdividing the 6,400-square-foot property into four units.
“I would have had to take a loan,” he said.
One of the units contains the newly opened Fry Daddy’s restaurant. The former food truck business serves burgers, fries and funnel cakes among other offerings.
There’s also an Asian bread bun take-out restaurant in the works.
The remaining two units are still vacant.
The property owner said that Patchogue is a great area to own a business. This is his only building in the village. Smith says that the 58 South Ocean Avenue property is the epitome of success for the program.
“They took a space that was vacant for six or seven years and within a year it could be 100 percent occupied,” he said. “That is what we set out to do.”
Fry Daddy’s celebrates its grand opening in downtown Patchogue
Bird & Bao, an Asian restaurant specializing in bread rolls, in the works for Patchogue
