New Rochelle has approved more than $2.8 million in tax breaks for a $19.7 million apartment project in the Burling Triangle.
The city”™s Industrial Development Agency granted the tax incentives May 1 to developers Anthony and William Hammel, whose portfolio of apartment buildings is transforming a small enclave in the center of downtown.
The Burling Triangle is bounded by the New England Thruway, Memorial Highway and its namesake Burling Lane. It is across from Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital on one side and the New Rochelle Transit Center on the opposite side.
The building will be named The Grand, after the name of the street that bisects the triangle, and it will be the fifth of seven apartment buildings proposed by the Hammels.
The Grand will have 70 apartments in an 84,089-square-foot, six-story structure, with 30 studios and 40 one-bedroom apartments, including several units with balconies. The ground floor lounge will have an entertainment center, fireplace and pool table. A rooftop area will include a fire pit, media center, grilling station and sun bathing stations. Tenants will have use of a fitness center, bicycle storage and electric car charging stations.
The 575-square-foot studios are projected to rent for $1,875 to $1,925. One-bedroom, 800-square-foot apartments will rent for $2,200 to $2,300. Seven studios will be leased to tenants who make no more than 80 percent of the area”™s median income, for $1,393 a month.
The National Development Council, a consultant that analyzes proposed projects for the IDA, advised the board that the tax incentives are necessary.
“But for the proposed financial incentive package,” NDC said in a report, “the development is not considered financially feasible, as the developer would not be able to generate enough financial returns to attract the necessary equity.”
The IDA approved a sales tax exemption of $545,840, a mortgage recording tax exemption of $154,392, and a 20-year tax abatement deal that will save the developer $2,144,572 on property taxes.
The developer will pay more than $3.3 million in property taxes over 20 years. That will add nearly $2.5 million in tax revenues, assuming that the property was developed and taxes were frozen at $42,876 a year.
NDC calculated that the project will produce a net public benefit of nearly $1.9 million. That includes one-time payments of $554,560 to a community benefit fund, allowing the developer to add two stories to the structure, and $190,132 to a fair share mitigation infrastructure fund.
The project also will have removed five worn out residential buildings, NDC reported, and create 40 construction jobs and two fulltime and three part-time permanent jobs.
The project is being developed by Luxuria NR LLC, an affiliate of the Hammels”™ ELD Properties.
The IDA previously approved tax incentives for the Hammel, in 2011, Hammel II, 2015, The Millenia, 2016, and NewRo Studios, 2017. When The Grand opens, the developers will have added 319 apartments.
Construction could begin by the end of the year.
