Ivar Hyden, the owner of Backstreet Gallery in New Rochelle, said his store gets less foot traffic than it did before the recession. Hyden, who is also a Democratic city councilman, said a decrease in the city”™s office population has meant smaller lunchtime shopping crowds.
For years, New Rochelle has sought a spark to revitalize its downtown. Hyden, who has run a business in the city for more than 20 years, said realistically a retail resurgence will have to come through mixed-use developments and an influx of young professionals.
“In order to have small, upscale businesses of the type we”™d all like to see, we need more people on the street,” he said.
The national economy has shown signs of a rebound and interest from investors in Westchester County has returned after years of a tentative market and gun-shy developers.
“I”™m genuinely optimistic for the first time in a long time,” Hyden said.
New Rochelle on May 30 issued a Request For Qualifications seeking master developers for two development clusters ”“ a move that if successful will be less a spark than a full solar flare for a downtown renaissance. Interested development teams can outline visions for both clusters but must file separate plans.
The first cluster centers around the New Rochelle train station abutting Interstate 95 and bisected by North Avenue. The second cluster includes a number of city-owned parking lots and other parcels, centering around the public library building.
Although the amount of construction will depend on the eventual proposals, a recent transit-oriented development identified the potential for an additional 1.5 million square feet of office and medical space, 2,000 apartments and 500,000 square feet of retail space. City officials are also hoping for construction of a hotel or hotels as part of any agreement. Those numbers include several properties that aren”™t tagged in the clusters, and the clusters include a number of properties that study does not. The city says it is receptive to changing zoning codes if the chosen plan calls for it.
“The City encourages the development teams to use the Zoning Ordinance as a guiding factor, but to be limited by it,” the request says.
Mayor Noam Bramson, a Democrat, said the request was the next logical step after the City Council digested the findings of three development analyses, including the transit study as well as a Columbia University report.
Bramson said the city”™s train station is already among the busiest Metro-North stops, with roughly 5,000 weekday commuters and reverse commuters utilizing the less-than-half-hour trip to and from the heart of Manhattan. The New Rochelle train station, which also has an Amtrak stop, will also be connected to Penn Station when the New Haven Line extension is completed in 2021.
Although there are at least 10 city properties included in the cluster zones, there are also a number of privately owned parcels. Asked if eminent domain could end up a necessity of any cluster development, he said, “The city”™s position and within this (request) is that we prefer our property transfers to occur on a consensual basis but that we are willing to consider eminent domain as a last resort,” he said.
The mayor said hiring master developers to take on multiple projects rather than several smaller projects represented a change of approach for New Rochelle. Master developers could represent a more unified vision and potentially attract larger and better-suited candidates, he said. The city is also issuing a request for proposals from consultants to study the impact of large-scale redevelopment on public schools by analyzing demographic trends and projects, identifying student population thresholds that would require buildouts and suggesting solutions to handle any influx of new students.
“It”™ll be the first time we look at it comprehensively and it is going to be done by professionals,” Bramson said, noting city officials have already met with representatives from the schools.
A hurdle for public support of the master developers”™ visions will be the amount of tax abatements the city offers, according to Bob Marrone, executive director of the New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce.
In the last two decades, the city undertook several marquee development projects, the first of which was the 1.2-million-square-foot New Roc City. Residential development was also a focus with the 40-story luxury condominium Trump Tower and the two-tower Avalon Bay. The 30-year tax abatements on the Avalon properties became a debate point and the company has since sold both of its buildings ”“ the 39-story Halstead of New Rochelle is now owned by DSF Group and the 25-story La Rochelle was bought by Hartz Mountain.
“I don”™t think residents will ever support another 30-year tax break,” Marrone said, but said previous deals should serve as a lesson to city officials. “There is a middle ground. The more we develop the downtown, the better it is for New Rochelle.”
City Councilman Hyden agreed, saying the city was better prepared to determine a cost/benefit ratio for any payments in lieu of taxes.
“We have to weigh the overall benefit to the city, hotel tax revenue, sales tax revenue, if people are living downtown,” he said. “I want to make sure going forward we get more than we give. I”™m not interested in giving away the store.”
Ralph DiBart, the executive director of the New Rochelle Business Improvement District, said he favored seeking master developers, as it was a holistic approach to revitalization. He said the timing was right as rents and costs increase for businesses and residents in New York City.
“Now is the time for us to plan to be a major player as the real estate market moves north from Manhattan,” he said.
The cutoff period for qualification bids is July 31. A shortlist of finalists is expected to be notified late in summer and invited to present in front of the City Council in October.
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