Just 10 months ago, Irwin R. Krasnow broke ground on a new 7-Eleven and gas station at the gateway to Westhampton Beach, and last week, a grand opening celebration was held.
Located at 107 Old Riverhead Road, between Rogers Avenue and South Perimeter Road and just down the block from Francis S. Gabreski Airport, the gas station and store are now fully operational.
“Back in 2019, my wife, Robin Laveman, and I saw a vacant lot in front of Metro Storage with direct access to the Westhampton Beach Train Station,” developer Irwin R. Krasnow said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, April 4. “I noticed there was a need for a modern convenience store with a gas station with easy access, great choices of food, beverages and sundry items and most importantly, with fair and reasonable gas prices!”
Krasnow, a real estate broker whose company, Area Real Estate Associates is based in Garden City, then reached out to the Westhampton Beach building department and was introduced to then-Mayor Maria Moore and then-Deputy Mayor Ralph Urban, who were very enthusiastic about the project. He and his wife have a beach house in West Hampton Dunes.
“I build where the zoning is and the municipalities are cooperative, collaborative and welcome. That’s exactly what I found in the Village of Westhampton Beach under the leadership of [now Southampton Town] Supervisor Maria Moore and [now] Mayor Ralph Urban.
Records show that he officially closed on the 1.6-acre property on January 29, 2021, purchasing it for $1.35 million.
Stonefield Engineering and BAR Architects provided a site plan and elevations for a 3,999-square-foot building on the 69,887-square-foot parcel. They broke ground on May 30, 2023.
Eight gas pumps with a total of 16 stations are operated by the 7-Eleven franchisee, Ram Matlani. The store is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
As with all newly built 7-Eleven stores, this location features signature items such as hot bean to brew, fresh-brewed coffees and espresso, cold Big Gulp and Slurpee drinks, fresh-brewed teas and new fruit-flavored frozen lemonades. Also offered are hot-to-go and ready-to-bake pizza, taquitos, self-service hot grill items, fresh sandwiches, crisp salads and baked-in-store cookies and pastries.
At the ribbon cutting, 7-Eleven awarded a $711 Project A Game grant to the Westhampton High School Girls Varsity Lady Canes soccer club, a non-profit organization.
Krasnow and Laveman offered to treat all service personnel from Gabreski on the opening day as a thank you for their service.
Check out more photos below.
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