Architect Winka Dubbeldam flashed slides to the New Rochelle City Council showing her vision for Echo Bay: a “Main Street on the waterfront” with a public park, mixed-use buildings and a 200-room hotel.
Councilman Al Tarantino, a Republican, asked if Dubbeldam would consider altering the hotel from one 12-story tower to perhaps two smaller towers.
“There may be an objection from the community,” he said.
Dubbeldam, principal of the Manhattan-based firm Archi-Tectonics, said she wanted to build several hundred residential units and 80,000 square feet of retail space on a 9-acre strip that includes city-owned and privately-owned properties.
The idea likely sounded familiar to city officials and residents. Slightly more than six months ago, New Rochelle abandoned a similar construction plan amid community opposition and criticisms over expected tax breaks for the developer, Forest City Residential Inc. That defeat came after a decade of planning, re-planning and a public debate that included picketing and an effort from local veterans to preserve an abandoned, decaying armory building at the site.
On June 10, the City Council heard presentations from four groups interested in hopping into the frying pan in place of Forest City. Elected officials stated hopes for a less fractious process this time around, with presenters including Twining Properties, which bid on the project in 2006 but finished as a runner-up to Forest City, and three groups, including Archi-Tectonics, that had proposed new uses for the armory in a design competition last year.
One of those groups was Reimagine New Rochelle, which was formed by local veterans and represented by former state Assemblyman Ron Tocci, who was a speaker at last year”™s anti-Echo Bay protests at which protestors chanted “Hey hey, ho ho, Forest City has got to go” and “No way Echo Bay.”
Tocci said a problem with the Forest City proposal had been that the armory was an afterthought. His group wants to convert the space into a performing arts center and said it wasn”™t interested in the possibility of converting any space on the property into residential.
“We don”™t really know if housing is the answer,” he said. Tocci said the group could begin construction within a year and would be willing to work with the other presenters. The hope, he said, was to restore the armory as a first step to other development in the region. A concern for the armory is that the building continues to deteriorate as its future is debated. A roof renovation project pegged at $1.5 million a few years ago is likely to cost as much as $5 million now, with rain leakage also causing damage to the floors inside of the building.
The other presenters had similar ideas for the armory, with the preservation of the building now a likely part of any agreement. Some suggested designating space for local veterans groups at the site or offering space at one of the mixed-use buildings nearby. The proposals shared the common theme of opening up the waterfront to the public after lack of access was a concern during the city”™s original process looking into the development.
CDR Studio Architects presented a plan to convert the mudflats of the area into wetlands and a marshlands park. Solutions such as these were discussed to combat concerns about Echo Bay being in a federally-designated flood plane. Other environmental concerns include a city public works yard at the site, planned to be relocated, and the intricacies of handling polluted soil there.
Last time the city considered developing Echo Bay, it took the better part of a decade for the agreement to reach its end. Mayor Noam Bramson, a Democrat who supported the Forest City proposal previously, said the city would now analyze the new presenters”™ plans and financing projections.
“Certainly, there will be further discussion,” he said.
