Starbucks Construction a Jolt to Neighbors

Caffeine junkies can take comfort in the fact that the Starbucks Coffee Company’s East Hampton location will reopen tomorrow, after an interior expansion and renovation project prompted its closure for almost nine weeks. 

Several adjacent neighbors of the coffee giant’s Main Street store, however, are less than happy with one aspect of that project. In April, the village board granted a sanitary easement so that the store’s septic system, which, like those of a number of other buildings on Main Street, is under the Reutershan parking lot, could be upgraded. Representatives of the coffee chain had told Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and the village board in March that the Suffolk County Department of Health required a septic system upgrade due to the planned interior modifications. 

Vibrations from the excavation at the septic system’s site, in the corner of the parking lot adjacent to Eastman Way, resulted in items falling off of shelves, a fluorescent light coming loose and falling to the floor of one shop, and several business temporarily closing due to the disturbance. 

An Oct. 29 letter to Jason Holdsworth, a Starbucks senior project manager for construction, that was signed by representatives from nearby businesses including the Wallace Gallery, Khanh Sports, BookHampton, Vered Art Gallery, and Medusa Boutique complained of “interruption of business and loss of substantial revenue” as well as damage to merchandise. In a Nov. 1 letter to Mr. Holdsworth, Terry Wallace of the Wallace Gallery wrote that “Starbucks has not been very neighborly in the manner in which it has handled the entire situation. I tried to explain this to you from the outset of your project, but was ignored.” 

Officials of the coffee company, according to Mr. Wallace, had asserted at the outset that adjacent businesses would not be affected by the construction. But, he said, “things started to get damaged,” including four frames in his gallery, which is on Eastman Way between Starbucks’s expanded area and the septic system. In addition, he said last week, “I have been closed pretty much since Sept. 23.” 

While nothing was damaged at the Vered Art Gallery at 68 Park Place, the excavation and construction in the parking lot was “disruptive, because the alley was closed,” said Nicolas Hoyos, its director. “They also had to use heavy machinery to pound deep. It was major construction,” he said. 

“The whole store was shaking,” said Khanh Ngo of Khanh Sports at 60 Park Place. A glass shelf broke, spilling sunglasses, cups, and mugs to the floor. “Anything vibrating was on the floor,” Mr. Ngo said. “We cleaned it up many times.” Mr. Ngo suffers from motion sickness, he said, and consequently closed his store for a few days. “I wish somebody had said, ‘Hey you need to secure this,’ given us fair warning,” he said. 

Mr. Holdsworth did not respond to a request for comment. Holly Hart Shafer, a Starbucks spokeswoman, said last week that “in general, our team feels like they’ve locked arms with our neighbors.” The company, she said, had followed the village’s permitting and legal requirements. “Part of that planning process and conversation we had well in advance of when we started was to reassure the community and alleviate any concern about their businesses being physically disrupted by any of the process.” 

Ms. Shafer acknowledged that “some neighbors reported products falling off shelves” and damage to lighting fixtures, “but nobody was injured. We immediately halted the excavation process, and contacts were made with each neighbor.” The company will replace damaged items and make repairs caused by its construction activities, she said. “In the end, this is only going to improve the quality of that corner, and bring more traffic to everybody who wants this store open.”  

Mr. Wallace was not satisfied by the company’s response. “The only compensation they will look at is damaged goods as a result of the construction,” he said, while he estimated an additional loss of $50,000 in revenue. “We live in a small community,” he said. “This is indicative of what goes on when these big companies come to town. The people affected are the last mom-and-pops.”