The developer Allstate Ventures expects to begin construction later this year on its fourth building in New Rochelle following site plan approval by the New Rochelle Planning Board. It expects that the Crossroads Centre building will be open early in 2029. Revisions were made to the plans after comments were received on the original submission from October 2024 that called for 547 apartments and approximately 12,060 square feet of retail space.
According to Attorney Mark Weingarten of the White Plains-based law firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr LLP, “Allstate felt that many of the comments were reasonable and rather than rely on its legal rights agreed to hire a new architectural firm to take a fresh look at the project and attempt to satisfy the stated concerns.”
The architectural firm CetraRuddy was brought in to prepare the final designs.
Weingarten said that in addition to appearing before the Planning Board, Allstate met with representatives of the Hallen School, which is across the street from the project site, as well as holding three meetings with representatives from the board of the building at 25 Leroy Place to discuss modifications.
“The main concerns voiced by the neighbors were reducing the unit count and commercial square footage if possible, enlarging the building setback from 25 Leroy, creating public open space, reallocating some of the loading and resident parking on Leroy, preventing queuing issues from our garage back out onto the public street and helping fill the need for municipal parking in the neighborhood.”
Weingarten said that the building was moved back to allow 30 feet of clearance from the Leroy lot line, which created an area for a public open space and park. He said that changes were made to reduce the visual impact of the building and the unit count was reduced to 504 apartments. The retail space was reduced to 4,500 square feet of space. He said that a subsurface parking level was added to help satisfy the parking demand in the neighborhood that will bring to the project 47 spaces for municipal use.
Weingarten said that the developer believes having 47 parking spaces available for the public who can then ride an elevator up to the street and visit the retail businesses will benefit the area.
Weingarten recalled that some members of the public when commenting on the proposal pointed out that they have trouble finding places to shop in the downtown. He said that service retail and restaurants are doing well in the downtown while clothing and similar retailers mostly are selling online and when they do open up brick and mortar locations they have relatively limited inventory and require less space.
“We talked to the neighboring building about potentially a market that could go into theirs,” Weingarten said. “It’s needed in the downtown, some kind of a specialty market. The (retailing) market has changed dramatically in the last 10, 15 years and we’re going to try to adjust to it as we go forward.”
Weingarten pointed out that Allstate is a developer committed to the success of New Rochelle having developed the three-building Westchester Place complex that includes The Alary, The Arc and The Atelier. Together, the three buildings provide 524 market-rate and affordable apartments, plus nearly 7,500 square feet of neighborhood retail and creative space showcasing local galleries and studios.
The apartments at Crossroads Centre will be a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and duplex units. Planned amenities include a rooftop pool, a sky club, resident lounges, fitness and wellness spaces, and indoor and outdoor gathering areas.
