Developer says it won’t build $500M project at former Alexander’s site, 60 S. Broadway in White Plains

Quarterra Multifamily, which is part of Quarterra Group Inc., a Lennar company, says it will not be building the mixed-use project that has been approved for what at one time was the site of the Alexander’s Department Store at 60 S. Broadway in White Plains. After Alexander’s, the site became the Westchester Pavilion mall. Quarterra has asked the White Plains Common Council to again extend the site plan approvals of the project, which the company anticipates will make it easier for them to sell the property and result in a new owner being able to begin construction sooner.

Nine years ago, approvals were first granted for a project that after some modifications was going to have two 28-story residential towers with 814 apartments and 28,000 square feet of retail and dining along with 932 parking spaces. The project was to be built in two phases, with each phase having an estimated cost of $250 million for a total $500 million project.

Attorney Neil Alexander of the White Plains-based law firm Cuddy & Feder, representing Quarterra, said, “The owner has decided that they’re not going to be the ones to build this project as much as they’ve had great success with The Mitchell.” The Mitchell is a new mixed-use building on Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains.

Alexander said that the property has been listed for sale with the real estate services firm CBRE. CBRE’s Deal Flow website shows that CBRE has been retained as the exclusive advisor for the sale of 60 S. Broadway, which is presented as being a “fully-approved high-rise residential development site.”

CBRE shows the land as covering about 3.58 acres. It says a 21-year PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement is in place that potentially is worth plus or minus $33.5 million. CBRE suggests that a new owner could redesign the site and build a project with fewer units and less height.

“With the property on the market to sell it would be I think beneficial to everyone to sell it with approvals in place if possible,” Alexander said. “Whoever would buy it would then be that much closer to breaking ground.”

The city previously had urged the developer to do something to beautify the site and make it useful to White Plains residents rather than just allowing it to remain a vacant site surrounded by fencing.

White Plains Mayor Tom Roach said, “We’re all going to have to look and decide whether things have changed so significantly, that circumstances have changed to such an extent, that we can’t be sure that this is the right project for that site anymore.”

Roach said that there have been a lot of developments not far from the 60 S. Broadway site that have been completed.

White Plains Common Council Member Justin Brasch said, “We extremely frustrated and you guys should figure out something you can do for us or the city whether it’s a park or something. They could at least do something on that space for the city or the community … that will at least give something to the city of White Plains in the interim.”

Council President Victoria Presser said, “It’s not only the people at this table who are frustrated. We have all been inundated with comments from residents who have been frustrated and appalled that this hole in the ground has been there for years. We’ve got to be able to tell them something and you’re the folks that have got to figure out what we can tell them.”

“This is the same company that actually built, delivered, the first project in eight years in the city of scale of multifamily, which is The Mitchell,” Alexander said. “They also were the ones who pioneered and put 434 units that have now been built and delivered right on Mamaroneck Avenue, right on Post Road.”

Alexander emphasized that extending approvals is important because Quarterra has recognized in the past three months that they are not in a position to build the project themselves and have put it to market and by offering it for sale they are getting closer to finding someone who will buy it and build it.