Shinnecock Nation moves forward with gas station construction, improved relations with NYS

Two commercially zoned parcels on Sag Harbor’s waterfront owned by developer Adam Potter that had been proposed as a future home for Bay Street Theater and an extension of John Steinbeck Waterfront Park have reportedly been sold. Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that sources say the buyer is Jeremy Morton, who already owns restaurant properties in Montauk and Amagansett, as well as the commercial building at the corner of Hill Street and Windmill Lane in Southampton Village. The properties are the Water Street Shops building at 20 Long Island Avenue that is better known for its former tenant, 7-Eleven, and the building at 2 Main Street that was once derisively called “Fort Apache.” The properties were placed on the market in January 2023 after there was strong local opposition to the theater plans. Last summer, Hal Zwick and Jeffery Sztorc of Hamptons Commercial Real Estate at Compass, announced a push to “aggressively market” the two properties with an asking price of $34 million. At that time, Zwick said he had fielded a number of inquiries, three of which he described as serious. Besides owning the white commercial building that dominates the corner of Hill Street and Windmill Lane in Southampton Village, Morton owns the former Rick’s Crabby Cowboy Café site and Ruschmeyer’s in Montauk and Morty’s Oyster Stand in Amagansett.
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Former LIPA chief executive officer Tom Falcone has taken the top job at a national organization of large public-power utilities. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that Falcone, who spent a decade at LIPA in leadership posts, including president and finance chief, yesterday was named president of the Large Public Power Council, a Washington, D.C.-based not-for-profit advancing the interests of the nation’s biggest public power utilities. Falcone resigned as president and chief executive of LIPA in March, months after Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed a new chairwoman and her first slate of board members.
Falcone called his tenure at LIPA a "great and interesting job," one that helped focus his energies on the needs of large public power utilities. LIPA is a member of the council and Falcone had been chair of its board before leaving LIPA. "I’ve been involved a long time" in public power issues, he said.
At the Large Public Power Council, Falcone will work with the organization’s 29 utilities and their leadership to advance interests in Washington and their operations at home. He’ll meet with lawmakers, federal agencies and member utilities to "help utilities achieve their agendas" and advance best practices in their operations.
Falcone, who lives with his family on Long Island and is a former investment banker, was replaced at LIPA by former state Public Service Commission chairman John Rhodes, who remains in the post in an interim role. Rhodes is currently overseeing LIPA as it reviews new bidders for the contract to manage the utility as PSEG's contract expires next year.
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This Friday, two lucky Moose members will walk away from the Riverhead Moose Lodge with major cash prizes totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. That’s because, by an act of insane chance - a 1.8% chance, to be exact - the Queen of Hearts has evaded the capture of the lucky (but not lucky enough) Moose members who won the last 53 drawings of the Search for the Queen of Hearts raffle game, leaving only the Queen remaining and a jackpot of more than $500,000. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the Riverhead Moose Lodge has been running the game for forty years and this has never happened before. Under the rules of the game, the person who chooses the Queen of Hearts wins 60% of the jackpot. The rest goes to the lodge which uses the money to support the international fraternity’s endeavors, including Mooseheart, a residential childcare facility and school for children in need outside of Chicago, and Moosehaven, a senior living community for Moose members in Orange Park, Florida. But 60% of the current jackpot would exceed New York State’s limit on winnings. The member whose ticket is picked on Friday will automatically score the $300,000 maximum amount, minus taxes. A second ticket will be drawn for the rest of the 60% over $300,000. The jackpot, which sits at $504,960, still has time to grow by tens of thousands of dollars before Friday’s drawing.
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The Shinnecock Indian Nation’s plan for a 10-acre gas station and travel plaza on the north side of Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays is moving forward as the federally recognized tribe says it hopes that improved relations with the state could pave the way for the project’s planned completion next year. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that Shinnecock leaders were in Albany this summer for an all-day summit with Gov. Kathy Hochul and her top commissioners to improve relations and iron out legacy issues, said Lance Gumbs, vice chairman of the Shinnecock Nation's council of trustees.
Among the topics was the nation’s Sunri...