Where corporate giants once reigned, vacancies now line the Platinum Mile, fueling plans by the town of Harrison to overhaul zoning requirements that would allow for mixed office, retail and residential developments along Westchester Avenue as early as 2013.
Harrison officials and consultants working with the town are in the process of revising the town”™s comprehensive plan to include chapters specifying development rules for the downtown and Platinum Mile districts.
Preliminary revisions call for limited retail, restaurant and residential development to be allowed in targeted areas, beginning with the properties located in the teardrop between Interstate-287, Interstate-684 and the Hutchinson River Parkway.
“We call it the Platinum Center,” said Frank Fish, principal of Buckhurst, Fish and Jacquemart Inc., a Manhattan consulting firm that has been contracted by the town to coordinate the comprehensive plan revisions.
Fish said it is important not to overreact to the current office park vacancies along the stretch of I-287 known as the Platinum Mile, but said targeted mixed-use developments could jump-start the local economy and add to tax revenue while largely not affecting enrollment in the area school districts.
Several properties located within the proposed Platinum Center zoning district have been plagued by vacancies and high-profile departures.
Last fall, the law firm Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker L.L.P. said it would move its Westchester offices from 3 Gannett Drive, where it currently occupies the majority of the building, to 1133 Westchester Avenue in 2013.
Across the street, more than two floors of 4 Gannett Drive are currently vacant, and on neighboring Corporate Park Drive, several buildings are either largely or entirely vacant.
Town officials held an informal meeting for property owners, brokers, tenants and other stakeholders on May 23, during which there seemed to be widespread support for the changes, said town of Harrison Planning Consultant Patrick Cleary.
Public meetings regarding the updates are scheduled for later this month, with formal adoption of the revised comprehensive plan expected in November if all goes according to plan.
“All signs have been pointing toward it staying on track,” Cleary said. “I remain very optimistic … I think we”™re talking the beginning of next year before you”™ll see applications that are making their way very quickly through the approval process.”
He noted that a sense of urgency is propelling the plans forward.
“This is our opportunity to get this right,” Cleary said. “I don”™t think we”™re going to get too many chances to make a mistake here, so we”™ve got to get it right now and we”™ve got to take advantage of the opportunities that exist today… If we can”™t address a particular applicant, they”™ll be in Greenburgh or White Plains or somewhere else.”
Justin Krebs, principal of Normandy Real Estate Partners, headquartered in Morristown, N.J., and head of the company”™s northeast division, said the key is to expand the scope of the existing Platinum Mile properties beyond the typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday.
“Placemaking is becoming a real popular trend in this mixed-use discussion,” Krebs said. “How do you make a place (and) bring in those elements where people want to spend time beyond their working hours? That”™s the key piece.”
Normandy owns The Exchange, an office portfolio that includes 14 buildings totaling 1.5 million square feet along the Platinum Mile corridor.
Included in The Exchange are two properties ”“ 103 Corporate Park Drive and 105 Corporate Park Drive ”“ that have been mostly vacant for years and would fall into the proposed mixed-use zoning district being discussed by the town of Harrison.
“We”™re actively looking at those assets for redevelopment,” Krebs said, in hopes of creating “a more robust environment for people to be working, living and commuting to.”
Robert Weisz, chairman and CEO of RPW Group Inc. in Rye Brook, which owns more than 3 million square feet of office, retail and warehouse space in Westchester and Fairfield County, Conn., echoed Krebs, saying that mixed-use developments including residential units would only raise the value of the surrounding properties.
“We have consulted with a number of our tenants and potential tenants to see what factors would make it more likely for them to relocate to Westchester and what areas could be improved for the companies already in the region … and frankly, having housing options is at the top of the list,” Weisz said.
By intertwining multiple properties in the proposed Platinum Center zoning district, “You could create a huge, almost campus-like atmosphere,” said George Constantin, president and CEO of Heritage Realty Services L.L.C., which is based in New York City and owns three properties on Gannett Drive.
“The residential will play a role in that, the retail will play a role in that, our office buildings will play a role in that, and that”™s how you have a healthy, strong and vibrant community,” Constantin said.
