A $121 million project is being proposed for the redevelopment of 70 Westchester Ave. in White Plains.
According to attorney Mark Weingarten of the law firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr LLP, Armonk-based Saber-North White Plains LLC is seeking approvals to create a residential and retail center with 175 residential units and 15,000 square feet of streetscape retail, restaurant and motor vehicle sales space. The project would include 297 parking spaces.
Eleven of the residential units would be in the affordable category. There is a requirement under city regulations for 21 affordable units in a development of the proposed size and the developer would like to make a $1.56 million payment to the White Plains Affordable Housing Fund as a buyout for the affordable units not provided.
The site is across from The Westchester shopping mall and opposite where Paulding Street meets Westchester Avenue.
In 2013, Saber proposed building an assisted living facility and some retail spaces at 80 Westchester Ave. Weingarten told a work session of the White Plains Common Council on July 26 that back then the city had asked Saber if it would be possible to create something more extensive in the area, because it is a significant gateway into White Plains.
The developer made a deal to incorporate additional neighboring properties including a city-owned lot in the northern section of the site close to Franklin Avenue. That led to an application to build The Collection, which at that time involved 1.1 million square feet of space.
White Plains Chrysler Jeep’s property at 70 Westchester Ave. was involved in the assemblage but the auto company subsequently had to end its participation. That led to revisions for The Collection, which ultimately was reduced in size and approved by the city for 592,000 square feet with 276 homes and 25,000 square feet of commercial space.
The Collection subsequently was acquired by Toll Brothers.
“Fast forward to the present; we have now reacquired the site at 70 Westchester from White Plains Chrysler Jeep,” Weingarten said. “They are back and allowing us to come in and buy that site and put it back in so we’d like to come in and finish what we started in 2013.”
Architect Mark Schulman of Design Development in White Plains said that the new 70 Westchester Ave. project would have the benefit of connecting Franklin Avenue to Westchester Avenue, prompting Mayor Tom Roach to explain that there would not be a roadway but rather a way for pedestrians to walk between the residential neighborhood along Franklin Avenue and the commercial activity on Westchester Avenue.
Schulman said there would be three buildings in the project. Building 1 would have four levels of residential over one level of retail. Building 2 would be a one-level restaurant structure. Building 3 would have eight levels of residential over two levels of parking.
“This is a cleaning up of an area that really needed cleaning up,” Weingarten said. “I know it because I drive by there every morning on my way to work, on Westchester (Avenue) when I get off 287.
“The good news on The Collection is that they have started demolishing all of the buildings there on that site and this is going to get cleaned up, which is lovely. This is a brownfield site. There is environmental contamination on the site. It will be cleaned up to the residential standard so that’s also a big benefit for the neighborhood and the city.”
Weingarten pointed out that the project would eliminate motor vehicle traffic from the 70 Westchester Ave. site into the Franklin Avenue neighborhood with the elimination of vehicle servicing activities that had been operating there. It is estimated that 200 construction jobs would be created for 28 months and 82 permanent jobs would be created in the completed project.
Martin Berger of Saber said that there would be bike paths through the development.
“We’re installing a green wall which will cover the parking decks,” Berger said. “A good portion of the roofs will not be black tar, they’ll be green-oriented. We’re also working with a geothermal company. We’re fairly far along, on the third or fourth set of plans and design. Hopefully that will work: geothermals for heat and air conditioning.”
Berger said the site has some gas service, which will be kept for the restaurants but that the residences will be all-electric.
The project is expected to be on the agenda for the Common Council’s regularly scheduled August meeting.
Berger’s Saber Real Estate North LLC along with EnviroFinance Group LLC are in the midst of creating Hudson Heritage, a $300 million-plus development on the grounds of the former Hudson River State Hospital in the town of Poughkeepsie.
As a community that has a dearth of affordable housing, we should not, once again, be trading affordable housing for buyouts or tax breaks or whatever games developers want to play in order to NOT, include affordable housing in their projects!