Retail clothing designer Eileen Fisher plans to create a wellness and lifestyle center via adaptive reuse of an industrial building near her company”™s eponymous headquarters in Irvington.
The project is known as 2 Astor Street, also its location. It would include an Eileen Fisher store, a café, a wellness center and studio spaces for yoga, dance and other activities.
The three-story building is 27,000 square feet; the site is 37,000 square feet, just shy of an acre.
The Irvington Village Board of Trustees has been deliberating since March 4 on a petition for a zoning amendment regarding parking for the site.
The project architect is Irvington-based Earl Ferguson.
“Currently in the zoning code, there is a prohibition against a parking structure of any kind,” said Ferguson. “We”™ve made a petition to the board of trustees for a zoning text amendment, basically asking that the existing language in the zoning be changed to allow for parking to be managed in an integrated parking structure.”
Ferguson said because of the steep topography of the site, the parking structure would be positioned into the hillside behind the building, making it mostly “low grade” and unnoticeable.
Ferguson said currently there is no distinction between underground and above-ground parking structures in the village, nor is there an interpretation into exactly what represents an elevated parking structure.
He said the petition does not ask that the amendment be consistent with Irvington”™s comprehensive plan.
The entire 2 Astor Street project is very preliminary; Ferguson has only completed a schematic/conceptual design. He is currently putting together an estimate for owner Bruce Trent”™s review and approval.
He said Eileen Fisher has contracted to purchase the building contingent on receiving approvals from the village. Once the project has received all of its municipal approvals, Ferguson anticipates that it would be completed in 12 to 18 months.
The steel-frame and concrete-block building was built in 1954. Up until a year ago, it was occupied by Mirro-Lite, a company that manufactured mirrors made from Mylar.
According to Ferguson, “It”™s about the least expensive industrial building you can erect. Our goal would be to make significant aesthetic improvements to the building.”
Ferguson said there would be no additional negative impact on the community in terms of views and traffic: “Our work would recapture the views for the community.”
Geoff Thompson, a principal with public relations firm Thompson & Bender and a spokesman for the venture, said Eileen Fisher had been looking “far and wide” for a space for this project before finding this building in the same village where she lives and works.
Thompson said Fisher is very conscious of the importance of overall wellness and Eileen Fisher Inc. promotes wellness and personal development for its employees.
“The genesis for this project comes from, and is very consistent with, Eileen”™s philosophy of business and her philosophy of life,” Thompson said.
Thompson said of Eileen Fisher”™s 735 employees, 150 work in Irvington and would be able to utilize the wellness facility.
The company has been headquartered in Irvington for the past 15 years.
The building”™s current parking lot, which is adjacent to the Metro-North train station parking lot, holds 10 spaces.
The integrated parking structure would hold 90. There are plans for valet parking.
“We”™re looking at the feasibility of it in every aspect,” Ferguson said. “One of our goals is to strive for the highest LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) certification for the building.
We are going to implement very high standards of sustainable design.” This includes a “green roof,” storm water retention, geothermal heating and cooling.
“We would also be creating and preserving as much of the property as possible for green space for the enjoyment of the community,” he said.
The plan envisions a parcel bordering Buckhout Street will be improved as a landscaped open space reclaiming views of the Hudson River. The lot is currently overgrown.
Ferguson said he is preparing to file a site plan with the Planning Board this month.
Fisher is currently expanding her Irvington corporate headquarters; Ferguson is the architect on that project.
The 2 Astor Street project first surfaced in January at a Village Board meeting where Fisher described her plans to the public.
The Village Board has not acted on the proposal. The Village Board did refer the plan to the Planning Board for review during its April 2 meeting.
