 
When Joseph Delfino became mayor of White Plains 12 years ago, the office vacancy in the city was the highest in the country (percentage-wise to the total number of population with available space).
“When we started, we actually drew a map, and without infringing on the neighborhoods, we said ”˜We”™d like to see a hotel here, a residential high rise here,”™ and we sort of played Monopoly and said ”˜Let”™s design a city,”™” said Delfino, who is not seeking re-election to a fourth term. “At the time, we had no supermarket, we had no movies, and there wasn”™t much happening in White Plains. We had to start from scratch.”
Twelve years later, the city not only has a supermarket, but a live theater in addition to a movie theater, an influx of restaurants and residents living in residential high-rises including a Trump Tower and the Ritz-Carlton towers and even a farmers market. Major companies, including Disney Publishing, have moved corporate headquarters to the city that BusinessWeek named as the best city for starting up a business in the state. BusinessWeek determined the list, released last month, using a variety of demographic, business and geographic variables that impact the probable success of a business start-up.
As spring progresses, small businesses that made it through the winter are starting to see signs of recovery. Â
Cathy Decker, operations manager of Apogee Pilates & Wellness Center on Mamaroneck Avenue
“Downtown White Plains is positioned to come out of this better than most other places in the county,” said Rick Ammirato, executive director of the White Plains Business Improvement District (BID) for the past five years. “We are in a position where once the consumer comes back, this is the place to come to.”
Ammirato said starting in September of last year, the outlook for businesses was dismal. “There was a lot of fear in the business community, a fear in the retail community especially, whether it was restaurants or just dry goods retail,” Ammirato said.
Businesses that made it through the winter are hoping for a busy summer season.
“Traditionally, January and February are very slow months, it doesn”™t matter whether the economy”™s booming or it”™s a recession,” Ammirato said. “Everybody was really concerned, and the attitude that everybody had was ”˜If I can make it to the summer, I”™ll be OK,”™ and we”™re starting to see the pattern of that now. The past couple weeks with the nice weather, we”™re starting to see people on the street again, we”™re starting to see people shopping again, dining again; and the establishments are picking up pace. I would say that the last three weeks is the first sense of optimism I”™ve seen since September, at least from what I hear on the street.”
Ammirato said there are differences “between this slowdown in the economy and the one that hit the city of White Plains in the early ”™90s when we had a vacancy rate of 36 percent.”
Manny Polloni, owner of American Terrain on East Post Road
During that recession “we saw a lot of the establishments and the retailers on Mamaroneck (Avenue) shut down, and we started having an influx of dollar stores and wig stores.”
This time, “you”™re not seeing landlords try to fill up their space with just anybody just to get the revenue in and hold on until things get better; you”™re seeing landlords say ”˜I”™m going to stick to my price point and wait until I get that quality tenant.”™”
Landlords are offering discounts, such as six months free rent, “but they”™re not moving on that number whatever that number may be per square foot.”
Rents in the downtown vary; Ammirato said Class B office space is in “the high 20s, low 30s” per square foot depending on the space; the retail price is “in the high 30s to upwards of 100 (dollars) depending on where you are in downtown White Plains.”
“The closer you are to the intersection of Main Street and Mamaroneck Avenue, the higher the rents are,” Ammirato said.
Ammirato said national chains have been hurt more in this recession, while the small business owner who has been around awhile “has been able to get through this.”
In the past year, the city”™s downtown has seen some of its big box stores, including Borders and Circuit City, leave.
“If you look at Borders and Circuit City, they were having trouble before (the recession began),” Ammirato said. “When times were good, they had some fundamental challenges to their business model in their specific industry, and as soon as the economy went down, they went by the wayside. You look at Fortunoff, which is not in the BID district, but that”™s suffering the vagaries of the economy more so than the bodega down the street.”
The BID is trying to find ways to help its membership bring customers into their stores, including offering its Shop White Plains program, which offers 10 percent off purchases at participating retailers.
The BID is also sponsoring a sidewalk sale, a business expo and a block party concert later in the month.
The two biggest events the BID holds is the New Year”™s Eve ball drop and a food festival and car show in September.
“There”™s all these little things that you can do to try and get people to come into White Plains and to shop,” Ammirato said. “You have to be creative; you can”™t expect to do the same thing and get the same result in this economy.”
“White Plains, unlike a lot of places, has a diversity of retail that matches the diversity of the population,” Ammirato said. “There are discount places for people to go if they”™re looking for values, so you”™ve got Walmart, Target and some shops in the Galleria. And if you want high-end, we have The Westchester, which is the finest mall in this region, and we also have the middle of the road, so there”™s something for everybody here.”
Ammirato said he would like to see more entertainment-driven entities come to the city as well as more corporate tenants, “because those people get out on the avenue and they spend their money, which would help everybody.”
For longtime White Plains business owner Manny Polloni and his store American Terrain, which sells kayaks, camping equipment, footwear and other athletic gear on East Post Road, White Plains is the place to be.
Fast Signs, a business down the street, is in the process of making new signs for the storefront and large, attention-grabbing company logos to fill its front windows.
“We try to look to do business locally when we can, especially in town, and that happens with all the businesses down and around the block,” Polloni said.
Polloni said the businesses”™ referrals transfer into larger stores, such as the surrounding department stores.
“We know all the footwear people, so if they don”™t have a size, they”™ll call us, and we send people there, so even on the big corporate conglomerate level there”™s a lot of the managers locally sending people back and forth just trying to keep the business in White Plains,” Polloni said.
Polloni opened the store during a recession in 1993.
“We opened when there were a lot of storefronts empty,” Polloni said. “A lot of people thought we were nuts to go into business at that point in time. They didn”™t think we would make it, but we looked at it as an opportunity, and I think a lot of people who are going into business now should look at this as an opportunity.”
Polloni said White Plains appealed to him because “it was a real crossroads of the county.”
Polloni said being a niche business and knowing his customers has helped the business survive.
“We”™re kind of old school,” Polloni said. “We tend to know many of our customers by first name. Once you have an experience here, you tend to stay with us.”
Polloni said the store had a “better than expected Christmas and a really good January, so our first quarter was flat, but that was good.”
And, as the weather warms and outdoor activities take off, Polloni can only expect business to pick up.
“We love White Plains,” Polloni said. “I really couldn”™t think of a better city to be operating in right now.”
A new business, Apogee Pilates & Wellness Center, which offers Pilates, yoga and nutritional counseling, opened two months ago on Mamaroneck Avenue. Its corporate offices are in Orangeburg, but the company is in the process of moving its headquarters to White Plains.
“This is our showcase,” said Debra Regan, general manager of Apogee”™s two locations in White Plains and Bedford Hills. “This is the first one that we”™ve built from the ground up, and from this one we will continue to develop other sites based upon our successes here.”
Delfino said the city was at a 7 percent vacancy rate before the recession began; it”™s now around 12 percent “because of what”™s happened with our box stores.”
Planning Commissioner Susan Habel said more than 9,000 residents ”“ about half the residents in the city ”“ live within a 10-minute or less walk from the center of downtown.
“We made this a walkable city,” Delfino said. “You can walk downtown and walk to everything except for the airport.”
In addition to the high-end high-rise buildings, Habel said all of the low and moderate income housing that was there when they started still stands today.
“We didn”™t displace one single person,” Delfino said. “We built 3,200 units and we”™ve approved 4,200, so we still have 1,000 units which are pending approval.”
In addition to a diverse mix of businesses and residential housing, the city”™s White Plains Hospital Center is now recognized as a regional hospital due to other surrounding hospitals, including St. Agnes, closing. Delfino is proud of the police and fire department”™s efforts to keep the community safe; “our crime and accident rates are the lowest we”™ve had in 40 years.” Parades are also a countywide draw; the city has several parades throughout the year to celebrate all the diverse cultures that make up the city.
“We”™ve tried to make it an exciting city, and so far it”™s working pretty well,” Delfino said.
The city”™s most recent award came from the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation for its new Web site on sustainability.
Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester, was impressed with the site.
“The Business Council of Westchester appreciated the opportunity of White Plains sharing their green Web site with us,” Gordon said. “It’s a user friendly, educational and informative tool to help businesses get engaged in the green movement.”
