Developers of Rivertowns Square in Dobbs Ferry have found a new operator for a 138-room Hilton Garden Inn planned for the 450,000-square-foot retail, entertainment and residential complex off the Saw Mill River Parkway.
Baywood Hotels Inc., a privately owned hotel management company in Greenbelt, Maryland, will operate the $17 million hotel under construction at 35 Livingstone Ave.
Work on the hotel component of Saber Dobbs Ferry LLC”™s $130 million development was delayed this summer after XSS Hotels, a New Hampshire-based company, terminated its contract to bring an 83,000-square-foot Hilton Garden Inn to the former Akzo Nobel chemical company campus. The hotel will be built over a gutted central research building being redeveloped as retail space. The Westchester County Industrial Development Agency in December approved $1.4 million in sales and mortgage tax exemptions for XSS, which operates a 6-year-old Hampton Inn & Suites in Yonkers.
The New Hampshire company”™s pull-out, which Saber Dobbs Ferry partners said was due to timing issues, sent the Rivertowns Square developer into negotiations with a new partner.
“We are dedicated to bringing together the most successful industry leaders to create a world-class lifestyle destination in Dobbs Ferry,” said Martin Berger, managing member of Saber Dobbs Ferry, in the hotel announcement. “Over the last few months we have worked diligently to identify the perfect partner and are thrilled to now be working with Baywood Hotels to bring our vision for Rivertowns Square to life.”
The Westchester County IDA at its Thursday meeting approved for the Baywood affiliate that will develop the hotel, White Marsh Holding LLC, the $1.4 million in sales and mortgage recording tax exemptions previously approved for XSS Hotels. The IDA said the hotel project will create 200 construction jobs and 50 full-time permanent jobs when it opens.
Sushil Mehta, vice president of construction at Baywood Hotels, said the 40-year-old company has been looking to enter the Westchester County and metropolitan New York market “for some time.” Baywood owns $800 million in hotel assets in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and upstate New York.
“We believe this will be a flagship property for our portfolio,” Mehta said of the Rivertowns Square hotel.
Rivertowns Square is scheduled to open in 2016.
