The former Cinco de Mayo restaurant in Calverton will become an equipment storage and shipping facility for a company currently based at the Enterprise Park at Calverton.
Electronic Payments, which also has offices in New York City and Florida, purchased the building, at the intersection of Route 25 and Edwards Avenue, in late August. The company works with businesses nationwide to process major credit card transactions and other electronic payments.
Cinco de Mayo had opened in that space in 2012 and closed on New Years Eve last year. Before the Mexican restaurant, the building housed the Village Crossroads restaurant.
Amber Josi, director of marketing, said Electronic Payments is offering new services and the facility will allow the company to store upgraded equipment and supplies for distribution to its clients. The upgrades center on new credit card readers, which work with cards that have built-in chips for added security. Merchants nationwide were given an Oct. 1 deadline to be ready to process transactions using the latest high-tech credit cards or risk liability if there’s a fraudulent charge.
“We’ve expanded a lot of our programs and service offerings this year to help our merchants nationwide prepare and adopt the latest payment technologies,” Ms. Josi said.
Electronic Payments founder and CEO Michael Nardy said the company ships between 50 to 100 packages daily. He said close proximity to FedEx is a huge benefit of the former restaurant’s Middle Country Road location.
The company’s Calverton office, on Scott Avenue at EPCAL, houses 80 employees, Mr. Nardy said, adding that the new warehouse location will create approximately 10 additional jobs.
An auction of the furniture and equipment remaining in the building will be held by the end of the month, he said, as they begin the process of converting it into a warehouse, for which the building was originally zoned.
He added that 100 percent of the auction proceeds will go to local charity.
“The season is among us, we’re coming up on Halloween and right around the corner is Thanksgiving,” Mr. Nardy said. “There’s probably a soup kitchen and other necessities. When it gets colder out people need winter coats. There’s a lot of charities and this is really the most important time of the year for them.”
Electronic Payments is waiting for Riverhead Town’s Architectural Review Board to approve its plans before making any major renovations, although small changes have started, such as cleaning the property and removing the Cinco de Mayo sign.
“As far as the building itself, it really works out perfectly for our needs,” Mr. Nardy said. “It’s going to fit in perfectly with the area.”
Photo credit: Nicole Smith, file