Year in Business 2016: A look back at the top stories
Jan. 11: The Levin family sells its motel and restaurant businesses, The Sound View in Greenport, to Eagle Point Hotel Partners.
Jan. 18: Flip-Flop Gymkids opens in Southold.
Feb. 1: Bobby Heaney, longtime owner of Skipper’s Restaurant in Greenport, confirms he’s sold his business to Bryan Villanti.
Feb. 2: Sea Tow Services International names Capt. Joseph Frohnhoefer III as its new chief executive officer and Kristen Frohnhoefer as president. Both are children of the late Joseph Frohnhoefer Jr., the company’s founder.
Feb. 13: Rhumb Line restaurant in Greenport closes following a State Liquor Authority investigation into complaints by police.
Feb. 18: Breeze Hill Farm confirms it will open a second location on Route 48.
March: Furniture store TouchGOODS opens in Southold.
March 3: Maryann and Ken Birmingham confirm plans to open Case’s Place at the former Galley Ho property in New Suffolk.
March 8: James Olinkiewicz unveils plans to build restaurants and apartments at former Meson Ole building on Third Street in Greenport.
March 17: Southold Farm + Cellar closes after the ZBA rejected a request for variances to convert an existing accessory structure into a wine-tasting area and construct a winery building on the property.
March 18: While the Claudio family’s restaurant complex in Greenport has been on the market, they confirmed they’ll still own the business and reopen this season.
April 4: Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs a state law that will gradually raise the minimum wage on Long Island to $15 an hour.
April 5: Vineyard 48 is fined and its liquor is suspended for three weeks as part of a state ruling on complaints from neighbors and police.
April 14: Owners of Country Corner Cafe in Southold confirm the restaurant is back on the market.
April 27: North Fork Shack in Southold opens.
April 28: Blue Canoe Oyster Bar & Grill in Greenport confirms it will not reopen after three years.
April 30: Lisa Jerome, owner of Hart’s True Value Hardware in Southold, confirms her family business is for sale.
May: Greenport Jerky Company begins selling its products at the Greenport Farmers Market and online.
May 12: Furniture store re:design announces its opening in Southold.
May 19: Snail farm Peconic Escargot announces its opening in Cutchogue.
May 26: The Coronet in Greenport confirms it will close after being in operation for nearly seven decades.
May 28: Revel North Fork opens in Cutchogue.
June: Jay and Cyndi Wickham sell the Mattituck airport property to Paul Pawlowski and Steve Marsh.
June 7: Southold Farm + Cellar announces it’s moving to Texas.
June 27: Suffolk County National Bank is acquired by People’s United Bank.
July 9: Riverhead Care Center rebrands itself as Acadia Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
July 22: Island’s End Woodcraft — a custom-made home furnishing, repair and vintage furniture store — opens in Greenport.
Aug. 3: Michelangelo Pizzeria & Restaurant in Mattituck is seized by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance due to the owner’s failure to pay taxes. It reopened the next day.
Aug. 8: Threes Brewing unveils plan to expand to Cutchogue.
Aug. 10: Wickham’s Fruit Farm in Cutchogue became the first farm in Suffolk County to receive the state’s Agricultural Environmental Management Award.
Aug. 11: Frank Purita confirms plans to open Greenport Distilling on Carpenter Street.
Aug. 12: Strong’s Marine celebrates the new launch station named Dave’s Cove.
Sept. 1: The Suffolk County Legislature approves a law requiring retailers to charge 5 cents for each paper or plastic bag they provide to shoppers.
Sept. 3: Cross Sound Ferry buys an additional passenger ferry named The Jennifer C.
Sept. 13: For the fifth year, Lenz Winery features the work of artists from Family Residences and Essential Enterprises on its wine bottles.
Sept. 26: Crazy Beans opens its third location in Greenport.
Sept. 28: A New York State Supreme Court ruling deems development on preserved farmland illegal.
October: Martin Lynch becomes the new owner of Country Corner Cafe in Southold.
Oct. 3: The Planning Board approves Paul Pawlowski’s mixed-use plan for the former Hudson City Savings Bank property in Mattituck.
Oct. 6: The Suffolk Times cover features Southold’s Wayside Market manager Harun Ilgin.
Oct. 7: Uncle Joe’s Pizza in Mattituck closes after two years.
October: 8 Hands Farm opens a farm-to-butcher shop.
Oct. 12: Cross Sound Ferry announces it will purchase new diesel marine engines for the Jessica W., one of its high-speed passenger ferries.
Oct. 14: Strong’s Marine buys Mattituck Inlet Marina.
Oct. 20: Robert Scott, owner of eponymous Southold jewelry store, announces his retirement.
Oct. 28: Supervisor Scott Russell proposes a moratorium on new winery, brewery and distillery applications, saying the town needs time to revamp the “sparse” codes it has for regulating the industries.
Nov. 11: Nearly 120 acres of open space in Mattituck and Cutchogue, now the site of an abandoned vineyard, sells for $8.5 million.
Nov. 18: Aqquua — a company that promises sustainable, traceable fish farming — has its sights set on the former oyster factory property at the end of Shipyard Lane in East Marion.
December: Boom Burger, a comic-book-themed eatery, announces it will open a new location in Mattituck Plaza.
Dec. 5: The Beauty Apothecary, a new skin care and cosmetics store, opens in Mattituck.
Dec. 6: The Greenport ZBA approves a series of variances for a hotel and restaurant on the southeast corner of Third and Front streets.
