The Flats at Westchester, a $95 million, 303-apartment project proposed next to an office park in White Plains, could unintentionally benefit from the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
RPW Group of Rye Brook and The NRP Group of Cleveland, Ohio, plan to break ground next month as city dwellers have begun moving to the suburbs to escape crowded conditions that favor the spread of the virus.
The developers could not have foreseen the pandemic and economic crisis when the project was conceived years ago, and no one knows the eventual consequences of the crises.
“Hopefully the pandemic will be in the rearview mirror,” when The Flats opens for occupancy in 2022, Andrew S. Weisz, executive vice president of RPW told the Business Journal.
But regardless of long-term trends, according to Weisz and Jonathan Gertman, a vice president of NRP Group, The Flats will be well poised for changing conditions.
The project is at 1133 Westchester Ave., near the intersection of Interstate 287 and Hutchinson River Parkway, on an underused parking lot next to RPW”™s office building and the Hospital for Special Surgery.
The plan is to build three, five-story wood-frame buildings with 303 apartments, a fitness center, swimming pool, business lounge and pet spa, all typical features of recent apartment projects in Westchester.
But Weisz said The Flats will be one of the first “true life-work developments” in New York state and the New York City region.
The 74-acre site will have a park and walking trails. Residents will be able to walk a hundred yards to jobs at the office building and medical facility, and make use of a beauty salon, child care center, cafeteria, dry cleaner and car wash.
A shuttle service will take tenants to the White Plains Metro-North train station and to a nearby Life Time gym and recreation complex, a soon-to-open Wegmans grocery store and downtown White Plains.
“It is ideally situated to give people a more open area,” Weisz said, “and at the same time is close to a lot of attractions.”
Despite the economic consequences of the pandemic ”“ high job losses and negative growth, for now ”“ “lenders have hung with us,” Gertman said.
“I think they really believe in us, and RPW is a big reason for that.”
Last month, Santander Bank approved a project loan and a building loan totaling $64 million, according to mortgages filed with the Westchester County Clerk.
Also last month, the developers subdivided the 74.2-acre property. A 19.2-acre parcel was deeded to NRP, for The Flats project. RPW kept control of 55-acres for the office building, in which NRP has no interest.
They also created an association to manage and maintain the roads, utilities and other shared or common elements.
The developers plan to break ground in August and finish the project in 18 to 24 months.
“This is going to be a trailblazing project for the county,” Weisz said. “We think it”™s really great.”
