Picture, just for a moment, a kinder, gentler Westchester. Kinder to businesses and gentler on their wallets.
It”™s not easy to imagine. The costs of doing business in New York state, and particularly in Westchester County, are spiraling out of control. Government has turned a deaf ear. Every day, it seems, another financial burden looms, either in the form of a new tax ”“ MTA payroll ”“ or increased fees for health care or other related expenses.
These hits keep chipping away at the county ”“ the once bastion of big business.
There was a time when companies sought out Westchester and would vie for space here to share an address with the likes of Texaco, General Foods, Nestle and New York Telephone.
The county was a sophisticated economic powerhouse whose allure proved irresistible to corporate America.
“In those days, the companies wanted to stay in Westchester ”¦ They were very happy here: Taxes were reasonable, they had a great work force, a convenient work force, great transportation,” Alfred DelBello, Westchester”™s county executive from 1974 to 1982, told writer Alex Philippidis in this week”™s cover story.
“It was 180 degrees from today, when Westchester was the place to be for business.”
As Philippidis notes, “a generation of real estate pioneers” helped pave the way for the county”™s affluence and influence.
Featured on our cover is Lowell Schulman, the enterprising developer who shaped the Platinum Mile with his 3 million-square-foot portfolio of 24 office buildings that were built between the late 1960s and early ”™90s.
He was in good company with noted developers such as Joel Halpern, Robert Weinberg and Martin Berger. And, pictured on the cover with Schulman is developer and building owner Robert Weisz, who carries on that enterprising tradition.
What do these businessmen ”“ who were instrumental in forming the county”™s reputation as “the place to be” ”“ think now?
Westchester has lost much of its prestige and most of its appeal to business. There are many notable and prosperous companies here, of course, and the new county administration has vowed to change the anti-business climate here. But certain things are out of the county”™s control. The disorder in Albany exacerbates the dire situation. Rising taxes and fees, red tape and other bureaucratic roadblocks are threatening Westchester”™s future.
So many companies have left the county, taking thousands of jobs with them. The latest casualty is Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which plans to move its headquarters ”“ and 800 jobs ”“ to Stamford, Conn., in 2012.
DelBello, now chairman of the Westchester County Association, recalled a conversation with John McKinney of Texaco, which relocated from New York City to Westchester in 1977.
“I remember saying to (McKinney), ”˜Why would you, a worldwide company, be interested in Westchester County and New York state, when your natural home would be Houston, where you have most of your facilities. And he said to me, ”˜New York state and Westchester County have a mature relationship with business,” DelBello said.
“When you look at what”™s happening today, you say my God, can you imagine a company saying New York is the place to do business?”
Hard to imagine.
How did we get here from there?
Over the next few weeks, the Business Journal will review the state of the county ”“ how it developed, where it stands and how it is poised for the future. We”™ll examine the changes, talk with the players and put it into perspective.
Can Westchester regain the glory of its heyday?
