One of the two companies that wanted to buy the former Frank”™s Nursery from the town of Greenburgh has instead set its sites on the 32-acre golf range next door.
Game On 365 L.L.C. is planning to buy the Westchester Golf Range on Dobbs Ferry Road, next door to the 7-acre former Frank”™s Nursery, an environmentally-blighted parcel that the town was set to sell before getting cold feet last year.
Greenburgh announced it had agreed to a deal to sell the Frank”™s property to Game On last year amid some community opposition over the terms of the deal, which would have paid $1.7 million up front and another $1.3 million over 13 years.
A competing company, Ardsley-based House of Sports jumped in to offer a $3.5 million cash offer to take the property “as is.” The town accepted the offer, then both companies threatened lawsuits if the Frank”™s property were to be sold to the other. The town delayed indefinitely an auction of the property scheduled for December 2013.
“When House of Sports decided to compete in the bidding and there were warnings of lawsuits, we realized the sale of Frank”™s Nursery would be difficult,” said Martin Hewitt, CEO of Game On 365. “We had a discussion with the people next door and came to an agreement that we would purchase the golf range. That would give us an opportunity to build our project faster instead of having to go through the lawsuits.”
House of Sports CEO Donald Scherer said Game On”™s building at the golf range would change the equation.
“There”™s no possible way that the roads and other infrastructure could handle two projects on Dobbs Ferry because it”™s a two-lane road that raises questions about traffic and other environmental concerns,” Scherer said. “If the golf range project goes forward, Frank”™s Nursery will most likely not be sold to us.”
The town acquired the Frank”™s property in a 2011 tax foreclosure. Scherer said his company would still be interested in bidding on the property, which has environmental concerns due to leaking fuel tanks formerly on the property, if the golf range construction doesn”™t go forward.
“We remain interested in learning more about the bidding process,” said Scherer. “We made attempts to purchase Frank”™s Nursery, and at this point the town is not doing anything.”
If the golf range is sold to Game On, the company will need the town to approve a rezoning of the property to construct a sports facility. The corridor is currently zoned for residential, but Game On is requesting a “recreation-open space” overlay district. Game On”™s CEO, partners and lawyers met with the town board at work session meetings last month and this month to discuss the proposal.
The town board discussed ways to revise the proposal to specify the buffer distance between residential areas and the sports facility and the maximum height for the dome that would cover a proposed field house.
The Westchester Field House would include indoor sports facilities with an AstroTurf track, multi-use courts, sports-related businesses, and health practitioners and an outdoor recreational space for sports teams.
The next step is for the town to vote on whether to be the lead agency on the state environmental review process at its Feb. 26 board meeting. If the town board agrees, the next step is for Game On to submit site plans to the town planning board.
It could take another two months before Game On submits a site plan, Hewitt said. After that, Game On must go through an extensive environmental review process and multiple hearings before any zoning change can take place.
“We”™re excited to move the process forward,” Hewitt said. “We have the right partners to be management facilitators and run the sports programs, and as we bring on new partners in the sports field, we”™ll provide tremendous opportunities for the community of Greenburgh and Westchester. We hope to have our doors open in 18 months or less.”
