Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center awarded $4 mil. from Southampton Town

The New York State Department of Health continued to evacuate all residents of a Greenport skilled-nursing facility late yesterday after Suffolk fire marshals determined the building's fire suppression and alarm systems were not working. The fire marshals' investigation came after a smoke condition was reported in a 911 call about 4:30 a.m. Monday at San Simeon by the Sound Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on County Road 48 in Greenport. Suffolk County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services coordinated the county transit buses and ambulances from across Long Island that arrived last night to pick up the residents, according to Fire Commissioner Rudy Sunderman. Nicholas Grasso and John Valenti report in NEWSDAY that the residents, some of whom could be seen being wheeled out of the San Simeon lobby on stretchers, were transported to other facilities throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties. Southold Town police told Newsday that 110 residents were being evacuated and taken to other facilities.

"All patients within this facility are safe," Sunderman said outside San Simeon on Monday evening. Behind him, a handful of patients waited in Suffolk County Transit buses parked in front of the facility. Ambulances from agencies in Brentwood, Mastic, Moriches, Port Jefferson, Shirley and other communities were also on standby for patients.

Suffolk fire marshals determined Monday afternoon that the nursing home's "fire suppression system as well as the fire alarms were not functioning properly," Southold Town Police Chief Steven Grattan told Newsday about 6 p.m. yesterday.

"They decided that it wasn't safe to keep the residence there until all of this is fixed," Grattan said.

The smoke condition reported at San Simeon remains under investigation, Sunderman said late Monday. That incident lead to responders and nursing home staff evacuating residents to the lobby area as a precautionary measure. Seven residents requiring oxygen were transported to local hospitals — four to Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport and three to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, he said.

Officials with Suffolk County's Emergency Management and the Southold Town police at the scene Monday evening did not know how long the evacuation of the facility would take.

Suffolk fire officials said firefighters from Greenport, Southold and Mattituck responded to the smoke condition call.

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The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center has been awarded $4 million from Southampton Town’s Community Preservation Fund, providing funds to support the historic theater that will be used for “major capital projects and enhancements.”

“Years in the making, this investment marks a transformative moment for the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center,” says Julienne Penza-Boone, the theater’s executive director. “With these funds, we will be able to make long-term improvements that not only enhance the patron and artist experience but also elevate our capacity to bring in world-class talent to our stage.”

Penza-Boone began work in 2019 with then Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and the town’s historian, Julie Greene, to put together a complete history of The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center.

It opened as a movie theater, then called Prudential’s Westhampton Theatre, in 1932, with former New York Governor Alfred E. Smith on hand. The building was later bought by United Artists, but by the 1990s and the rise of Blockbuster Video and the multiplex phenomenon, the 425-seat single-screen movie theater wasn’t a viable business model, and the building was set for demolition.

As reported on 27east.com, in 1996, a group of concerned citizens worked to revive the art deco theater, raising money from the community for the effort. The theater reopened as the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on July 4, 1998, and about 45,000 patrons...