Plans for two restaurants and a micro-brewery — all in the same building in downtown Patchogue — were each approved by the village Planning Board Tuesday night.
The first that’s expected to open in the former Cornell Galleries building at Main Street and Railroad Avenue is Local Burger Co., which also has a Bay Shore location.
The gourmet burger shop will be taking up 4,000 square feet in the building.
Local Burger will have room for about 100 seats and a 25-foot bar that would serve craft beer and liquor drinks.
Co-owner Mike McElwee described Local Burger as a “Shake Shack with table service,” which first opened in Bay Shore in May 2015.
“You can place your oder for takeout, or we do delivery,” he told the Planning Board. “Or, if you want to have a waitress serve you, we do that as well.”
Local Burger would stay open until 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.
The plans for all three establishments at 76 West Main Street were approved separately and unanimously in Village Hall.
A luncheonette called Buttermilk’s Kitchen will be moving next door to Local Burger, with an opening also planned for spring.
Buttermilk’s will seat about 80 — along with a lunch counter — and close daily at around 3:30 p.m., said local builder Bob Conklin, who represented the owners.
The family-friendly restaurant will serve only breakfast and lunch, seven days a week in a “sleek, urban, yet inviting setting,” according to a company press release from November.
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And behind both restaurants, the Patchogue Beer Project is in the works. The micro brewery will be equipped with a five barrel brewing system and feature a tasting room for guests, said representative Ryan Dispirito, who was at Tuesday night’s meeting.
The brewing room will be visible through glass for those in the tasting room, he said. The brewery — which aside from on-premises tasting, will also fill growlers to go — is expected to open this summer.
As for the building itself, Conklin said the original poured concrete structure that was long hidden behind a brick facade is being restored and refinished for all the new businesses.
Inside are a ceiling timbers that will be left exposed as well.
“We discovered a very interesting old building when we took off all the old brick,” said architect Gary Cannella of Gary Cannella Architects in Bohemia. “That was very satisfying to our clients, and the people of Patchogue who remember the old building.”
Check back at greaterpatchogue.com for more information on Patchogue Beer Project.
Top: A burger from Local Burger in Bay Shore. (Credit: Local Burger on Facebook)
