Chipotle restaurant planned for Route 58 in Riverhead
A Route 58 building is proposed to go from selling Japanese cars to Mexican food.
An existing one-story, 2,796-square foot auto showroom adjacent to Riverhead Bay Motors and just west of the Lowe’s parking lot is proposed to be converted to a Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant, according to a site plan application submitted to the town this week.
The property is zoned Business Center, which permits restaurants.
The site previously was home to Riverhead Suzuki, but has been vacant since Suzuki stopped selling cars in the U.S. in 2012, according to Anthony Mauro, the general manager of Riverhead Bay Motors, which sells Volkswagens and Subarus.
Chipotle is a Denver-based Mexican food chain that was founded in 1993 and now has more than 1,700 locations, including several in western Suffolk and Nassau counties.
Meanwhile, further west on Route 58, another Mexican restaurant is tentatively planned for the Saber-Riverhead shopping center, which has Dick’s Sporting Goods and Christmas Tree Shops.
A representative for the developer said a Mexican restaurant, which she declined to name, and a nail salon are tentatively planned for the last two vacant sites in that shopping center.
