Bay Street Theater gives up on Sag Harbor waterfront project

Plans to build a new home for the Bay Street Theater on the Sag Harbor waterfront are off after a group backing the move put the proposed development site up for sale this week.

The nonprofit Friends of Bay Street listed the 15,000-square-foot building at 22 Long Island Avenue for $25 million, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

Friends of Bay Street bought the property, formerly home to a 7-Eleven and other shops, in October 2020 for $13.1 million, a little over half its current asking price.

Bay Street Theater had hoped to break ground on a facility on the site in 2021, but ran into opposition. Plans called for a 39-foot-tall building, above the maximum allowed under the village code but still lower than the condominiums being built adjacent to the site. Locals balked, with one business owner accusing Friends of Bay Street chairman Adam Potter of sounding “like Robert Moses.”

In a statement this week, Potter said the group had “determined this property is no longer viable to build a theater as originally envisioned.” He didn’t elaborate on what, specifically, derailed the project.

It’s not clear whether the Bay Street Theater will take another stab at developing its own purpose-built facility. It’s renewed the lease on its longtime home at the foot of Sag Harbor’s Long Wharf, a block east of the development site, where it has run programs for more than three decades.

Compass’ Hal Zwick and Jeffrey Sztorc share the listing on the 22 Long Island Avenue site, which highlights its 30 parking spaces and 300 feet of frontage on West Water Street. One of the listing agents declared it “the only downtown waterfront retail availability on the South Fork,” adding they had already been approached by multiple suitors.

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