What is currently a 15-acre swath of semi-abandoned land on the busy commercial strip of Boston Post Road in Port Chester is one step closer to becoming a haven for shoppers, visitors, young professionals, seniors and medical workers.
Starwood Capital Group, the Greenwich-based real estate investment firm that bought the property in 2006, recently resubmitted a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) to the village for review by the Port Chester board of trustees.
Starwood also released the latest concept renderings for the planned $300 million mixed-use development on the site of the closed United Hospital, across from the expansive Port Chester Shopping Center and next to Interstates 287 and 95.
- An architect”™s rendering of Starwood Capital Group”™s Port Chester redevelopment.
Plans for the site include a 135-room hotel, 90,000 square feet of boutique shops and restaurants, 217,000 square feet of office space with an emphasis on medical use, 500 housing rentals for young professionals, 230 55-and-over age-restricted housing units and almost an acre of public open space. The latest renderings include plans to create a new street that bisects Boston Post Road and a shared parking structure.
Starwood Capital first presented a DEIS to the Port Chester officials in spring 2014. The latest document contains comments from town officials.
Port Chester Mayor Dennis G. Pilla called the proposed development a “win-win” for both residents and the site developer because of the economic benefit it could bring to the village.
The campus”™s only occupants are the families that live at the former United Hospital staff residence, a property that would need to be demolished in order for construction to begin.
“I think it”™s a very important project not just for Port Chester, but for the region,” Pilla said, citing the lack of 15-acre properties zoned both for commercial and residential development within a small radius of New York City. “I like what they (Starwood) have done with the rendering and how it integrates into our downtown.”
The development would create temporary construction jobs, direct jobs from the retail stores and corporate offices, and indirect jobs by virtue of the 730 apartments.
The next step is for village planners to review the DEIS comments and advise whether it is complete. Pilla said he hoped that the DEIS phase could be completed this summer, at which point a public hearing could be scheduled.
Upon completion, a site plan can be drafted by Starwood and submitted for project approval. Pilla could not provide an estimate for the project completion date should all preliminary processes go smoothly, but said he was told it would have to be completed all at once rather than in phases. The possibility of demolishing the main hospital building would also add on to the project cost and length.
Representatives from Starwood Capital declined comment.
“Time is the enemy,” Pilla said. “I would but love to see a quality project built quickly but I know there”™s a significant effort to demolish the hospital, and obviously that will take time.”
Pilla said increased traffic is a considerable concern for both Port Chester and neighboring Rye, as an area that already sees heavy volume throughout the day. Boston Post Road, originally built during the colonial period, is narrower than most other two-lane roads. He said a proposal to widen the main thoroughfare and make traffic adjustments on some of its tributary streets could be a key component of making the site feasible.
The other obvious factors to consider, Pilla said, are the potential impact on area schools and residents.
Starwood Capital acquired the United Hospital property at 406 Boston Post Road in 2006 for $28 million after the hospital declared bankruptcy and closed in 2005. Port Chester”™s board of trustees in March 2014 voted unanimously to adopt zoning changes that would make the mixed-use development possible.
“We want to look at its impact, the economic benefits and basically how it fits into the aesthetics of Port Chester,” Pilla said. “We have to do our homework.”
