In 1996, the wreckage of TWA Flight 800, which had exploded, disintegrated and crashed about south of the airport, was reconstructed in a hangar. In September 1998, the bulk of the developed land,, at the airport was donated to Riverhead. Another was donated to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation for wildlife management. In the 1998 transactions, East End Aircraft Long Island Corporation was given on Highway 25 which it is developing into the Grumman Memorial Park and Aerospace Museum. As of January 2006, the Navy still owns 358 acres at the site. In January 2013, one of the Calverton airport's two runways is being used to store thousands of flood-damaged vehicles from Hurricane Sandy.
Enterprise Park at Calverton (EPCAL) Development Efforts
Development for the central portion of the complex is still undecided as of March 2018. Various proposals have included building a 35-story artificial ski mountain, a racing track, a plant to build solar powered planes, building a solar farm and building a large shopping center. In January 2008, the Riverhead Town Board with newly elected officers signed a deal to close and sell the airport for $155 million to Riverhead Resorts which planned a 35-story ski mountain in a $2.2 billion proposed project. In 2010 Riverhead cancelled the contract after Resorts did not make a $3.9 million payment. File:Grumman-memorial-park.jpg|thumb| at Calverton On February 11, 2010 it was announced that the dormant railway track into the site would be reactivated for freight service. According to Railway Age magazine, Riverhead’s town board awarded a $3.49 million contract to Railroad Construction Co., of Paterson, New Jersey, to activate a rail spur off of the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line out to Greenport, for New York & Atlantic Railway freight trains. The project is being paid largely through federal stimulus funding. In 2017 a tentative deal was struck for the Calverton Aviation and Technology and Ghermezian family-owned shopping mall developer Triple Five Real Estate I, LLC ) to build solar power aircraft at the site with Luminati initially saying it would employ 2,000 at the plant. Luminati had gotten a foothold on the space in 2015 when he took over the Sky Dive space. As the plans to build planes fell into financial difficulties the shopping mall developers were signed on to the deal. The full details of the project were still being discussed in 2018. There is still an effort to turn the area into a race track and in February 2018 Sustainable Power Group filed suit saying it offered a higher bid for the property so it could become a solar farm.
The EPCAL site contains the largest remaining grassland on Long Island. The site provides documented breeding and/or foraging habitat for numerous grassland birds, including at least one New York State endangered species and five New York State Species of Special Concern. In fact, these grasslands are the most productive breeding grounds for grasshopper sparrow in all of New York State. The EPCAL site contains 10 kettle hole ponds which are documented breeding sites for the eastern tiger salamander, a New York State endangered species. The site also contains five additional reptile and amphibian species which are identified as Species of Special Concern in New York State. A total of 24 amphibian and reptile species have been identified on or near the EPCAL property. As discussions over whether the airport could be developed the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced in February 2008 that endangered short-eared owls and northern harriers had been spotted at the airport which would prompt the DEC to make the ultimate decision the environmental impact of the development.
