Greater Sayville coverage is funded in part by The Shed, your scratch kitchen for brunch and dinner daily at 21 Main St. in West Sayville.
Renovations at the Thornhill’s Pharmacy building in Sayville will be complete by Oct. 15, and a new business could be moving in soon after that, building owner Matthew La Piana said this week.
La Piana said he and his wife Lauri ideally would like to host a sign-lighting ceremony in October to celebrate the couple’s restoration of the iconic neon Thornhill’s sign and to announce a new tenant for the ground floor.
“All of the utilities are new — new electrical work, new plumbing, new mechanical and new lighting,” said Matthew La Piana, 45, who will share office space upstairs with his wife.
Matthew owns Building Restoration Consultants Unlimited. Lauri operates Lighthouse Court Reporting Inc.
The La Pianas, who purchased the building in March, have received some serious pitches from potential businesses, though nothing is quite in the works, Matthew La Piana said. In the mean time, the La Piana’s are conducting an online poll to learn what the community wants to see at 2 Main St.
Coffee shops, delis and restaurants are out because the Town of Islip’s zoning codes do not permit any type of food business at the address without a local sewer system installed.
So far, a vintage bookstore (124) and a boutique toy store (78) have received the most of the 400 votes.
The renovations on the first floor feature a Tuscany pattern tile floor, new freshly painted white walls, and an exposed, 11-foot-high ceiling.
Matthew La Piana, who has expertise in historic building restoration and is the lead contractor on the renovation project at 2 Main St., said he and his wife have looked to restore the interior of the first floor to what it looked like when it opened more than a century ago.
“With the ceiling, we went back to the original height – exposed the ceiling and rerouting the electric so that it isn’t visible,” said Matthew La Piana, who grew up in Sayville and West Sayville until he was 8, when his family moved to the Sachem School District.
“We peeled back many layers during the renovation process.”
