By Elana Glowatz
Smashes and gashes, scraps to dust.
Officials started to take down the decrepit Heritage Inn motel in downtown Port Jefferson on Tuesday morning, sending sledgehammers into a glass window and dropping an excavator’s arm onto the roof of one structure on the West Broadway site.
It was the first step toward new construction at the spot, where TRITEC Real Estate Company is putting up a 112-unit apartment building with parking underneath the structure, near the intersection with Barnum Avenue.
Previously called the Residences at Port Jefferson, TRITEC’s Bob Coughlan said on Tuesday that the apartments will be called “The Shipyard.” He estimated the project would be completed in 20 months.
“We’re thrilled to add to the vibrancy of the community,” said Coughlan, a TRITEC principal who lives in Port Jefferson.
He and Mayor Margot Garant did the honors in the ceremonial demolition, with both taking sledgehammers to a glass window in the attendant’s booth toward the front of the property before Garant got behind the controls of an excavator and sent its arm down hard into the roof of that booth, crushing everything underneath it to cheers from onlookers.
“We had the honor of taking the first bite out of the building and it was very cathartic,” she said afterward, noting that she was still shaking from the experience.
More demolition was scheduled to occur on the property later in the week, with a groundbreaking on the three-story luxury apartment building in June.
According to the plans approved by the Port Jefferson Planning Board, there will be 42 one-bedroom apartments and 70 two-bedroom, and the building will take up less than half of the 3.74-acre property to leave room for landscaping and buffers. The project did not require any variances or special exceptions from the village.
#Demolition at the decrepit Heritage Inn started out with an easy sledgehammer swing. #PortJeff @TRITEC_RE pic.twitter.com/GdCqUyGzJ4
— Elana Glowatz (@ElanaGlow) May 17, 2016
And turned into destruction with an excavator. Bye bye, Heritage Inn. #PortJeff @TRITEC_RE pic.twitter.com/RRqjufhuym
— Elana Glowatz (@ElanaGlow) May 17, 2016
