Developers expect this year to be a lot like 2019 ”“ very active with numerous projects in the queue, according to information gathered by Westchester County”™s Industrial Development Agency.
IDA Chairperson Joan McDonald, who also is the county”™s director of operations, and county Economic Development Director Bridget Gibbons, who formerly led the IDA, have been taking the pulse of the development community in the wake of 2019”™s banner year for the IDA. Last year, the agency saw a total private investment involving IDA-incentivized projects of $1.6 billion, more than double the 2018 level. With more developments proposed, there are likely to be more applications for IDA incentives.
Gibbons said, “2019 was a banner year for the Westchester County IDA. The projects receiving financial incentives last year ranged from mixed-use residential development to health care facilities to senior care communities to biotech companies.”
McDonald told the Business Journal, “The fact that these developers come to us for the IDA incentives I think speaks volumes that it”™s a true public-private partnership and that”™s what we like to see going forward. It”™s difficult to project numbers for 2020, whether it be dollars, number of units, number of jobs, but we”™re very optimistic that 2020 is going to be a very strong year.”
IDA incentives can include: exemptions from mortgage recording taxes on the purchase of real estate; issuance of tax-exempt bonds and notes; and sales tax exemptions on new construction, expansion or renovation projects, or acquiring new equipment. IDA-incentivized projects often receive payment in lieu of taxes, agreements with municipalities that can bring a developer long-term savings in real estate taxes.
“It”™s very expensive to build in Westchester County,“ McDonald said. “The price of land is very high. The cost to construct, getting through the local zoning and planning process and the various infrastructure improvements that are needed are expensive, so having the IDA benefits in a public-private partnership to help offset some of those costs makes sure that these developments happen.”
McDonald noted that while the Westchester IDA was established to cover the entire county, when a municipality has its own IDA the county doesn”™t get involved in incentivizing particular projects in those communities.
She said that one of the areas the county”™s IDA will be examining in greater detail for 2020 will be housing and promoting more affordable units, also known as workforce and sustainable housing.
“The county released its housing needs assessment in November. We know there is a need for sustainable housing, as we like to call it, for teachers, firefighters, others. We”™re working with developers and municipalities to see what additional ways we can incentivize developers to bring more of that workforce housing to the mix,” McDonald said.
In a summary of its activity during 2019, the IDA pointed out that some of the projects it gave incentives to involved repurposing vacant office properties along the Interstate 287 corridor. Also included were transit-oriented developments. In all, the IDA supported projects that would contain more than 2,800 new residential units.
Some of the projects specifically mentioned were:
Ӣ Simone Healthcare DevelopmentӪs renovation of an office building at 104 Corporate Park Drive in Harrison into a pediatric ambulatory care facility to be used by Montefiore Medical Center, which received $1.3 million in sales tax exemptions and $419,755 in mortgage tax exemptions;
Ӣ LennarӪs mixed-use project at 60 S. Broadway in White Plains, which was granted more than $12 million in sales tax and mortgage recording tax exemptions;
Ӣ National DevelopmentӪs 132-unit independent living community for seniors at 120 Bloomingdale Road in White Plains, which is now under construction and received $3.2 million in sales and mortgage recording tax incentives;
Ӣ RPW GroupӪs planned residential buildings at its 1133 Westchester Ave. office park;
”¢ 3 WPD Apartments LLC’s 450-apartment project planned for 3 Westchester Park Drive in Harrison; and
Ӣ BioMed RealtyӪs expansion of its Ardsley Park biotech campus in Greenburgh.
“BioMed Realty was a deal that was done in under a year moving through the IDA system,” McDonald said. “It was brought to my attention by one of my former colleagues in New York City who works for BioMed Realty as a consultant.”
The $38 million development is projected to create 350 full-time jobs with an annual payroll of approximately $35 million.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer said, “Westchester County is attracting private investment not only from local and regional developers but national development companies as well. The message is clear ”“ Westchester County is open for business.”
With the ConEd moratorium on new Natural Gas hookups almost a year old, what fuel are the developers planning to use to heat these buildings?
All work to be performed by Non Union Contractors who hire undocumented Non Tax Paying workers. They don’t use skilled labor that earn a fair living and have medical benefits for their families.