by Denise Civiletti Dec 18, 2014, 5:36 pm

Manhattan developer Georgia Malone celebrated the grand opening of her innovative office space at 30 West Main Street yesterday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the newly renovated and well-appointed office building.

Malone snipped the red satin ribbon to the applause of those gathered around her, including Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter, council members John Dunleavy, George Gabrielsen and Jodi Giglio and members of the boards of directors of the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce and Riverhead Industrial Development Agency.

“On behalf of the town board, Georgia, I want to welcome you to the Town of Riverhead. Yo’ve done an amazing job with the renovation of this building,” Walter said.

“When we first walked through it I’ll be honest with you I was skeptical. You had this city vision and I wasn’t sure if this city vision would fit. But as the construction progressed we realized you were going to build something that was going to be an absolute standout in Riverhead.

“I go through this building now and this makes 100 percent sense. When I look at what it costs me to run my office in Wading River, a building that I own, it’s cheaper for me to come here and I don’t have to shovel snow, cut grass or paint the building,” the supervisor said.

“Or pay utilities,” Malone added.

“We welcome you to Riverhead. We know this is going to be a great success and we can’t wait for your next project,” the supervisor said.

“I love Riverhead,” Malone said. “I like everything about it. It blows my mind that it’s so beautiful back there along the river. The park is beautiful. The community feel — everybody cares. You don’t see that in Manhattan,” she said.

Malone described the moment she says she fell in love with the town. She bought a house in Westhampton Beach and loves to walk her dogs on the beach. Encountering stranded seal pups on the beach led her to the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation. She went to a foundation benefit at the Hyatt. When she left the event, it was snowing and Main Street was so beautiful, she said. “I just fell in love.”

Malone’s concept is something that’s been done in Manhattan, but is a first for downtown Riverhead.

“People stuck working at home because it’s not affordable to enter into a long-term lease. They can’t network. Here, they can rent very inexpensively, with all utilities included and have very flexible lease terms,” she said.

Workstation leases start at $338 per month, with offices renting from $563 to $1,500 per month.

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