The wrecking ball is getting closer to Riverbay, the popular Williston Park eatery located on Wills Avenue.
Village of Williston Park building inspector Kerry Collins said this week that plans are in the final approval stage for TD Bank to construct a branch on the property now occupied by the Riverbay, which is located at 700 Willis Avenue in Williston Park
“It’s nearing an end,” Collins said.
The county planning commission gave its approval for the project plans to TD Bank’s contractor, Woodbury-based Cameron Engineering, early last month, Kerry said. And the Williston Park building department he is currently conducting a final review of plans for the bank branch.
Collins said he is currently reviewing plans for the site with representatives of Cameron Engineering. Once he is satisfied with the plan, he said, he will issue the bank a permit demolish the popular Willis Avenue eatery.
“As soon as Riverbay gets the green light from the municipality, they’ll close their doors,” he said.
Restaurateur Dean Poll, who owns Riverbay, said earlier that he intends to reopen the restaurant in a new location. But, he said, his making no definite plans until he gets definite word from the village on approval of the TD Bank project.
“It’s the status quo fro me until I hear from them,” Poll said. “I can’t make any decisions on what the immediate future plans for Riverbay are until they give a ‘go’ hard date.”
He had previously indicated that he had a site in mind in Nassau County.
He has said the bank first approached him three years ago and the deal was struck over “quite a period of time,”
George Meccariello, construction manager for TD Bank, told the board of zoning appeals at a hearing in April that the bank had negotiated a 20-year lease for the property. It would occupy 3,849 square feet on the property.
Several issues had to be resolved with the village board of zoning appeals for the project to go forward. A restrictive covenant had existed on the property since the 1970s, according to Collins, limiting use of the property for a restaurant business dating back to when a Chinese restaurant occupied the site.
The zoning board modified that restriction to permit use by another type of business. The zoning board heard a presentation from TD Bank for a variance to permit a drive-through service window at the branch last summer and ultimately granted the variance in August.
