Hochul comes to Harrison to open AvalonBay development at train station

Gov. Kathy Hochul led the roster of dignitaries on hand at 322 Halstead Ave. in Harrison today for a ceremonies marking the formal opening of AvalonBay’s transit oriented development that brings 143 apartments to the area of the Metro-North train station. In addition, a parking garage that was opened in August of 2021 provides 758 spaces with 475 reserved for the public and Metro-North commuters. The project also offers 27,000 square feet of retail space and 5,000 square feet of amenities for residents.

“If you’ve ever wondered what that means, transit oriented development, TOD, just look out the window,” Hochul said as Metro-North trains sped by on the adjacent tracks. “I want the naysayers to see this. Come here, take a look at this project, take a look, walk around, talk to residents.”

Hochul said it’s a tragedy that some young people today cannot afford to find housing in the communities in which they had been raised.

“They don’t start out in life being able to afford luxury housing or huge single-family homes. They just don’t. Nobody does,” Hochul said. “And our seniors, who built their lives here, who never entertained leaving the community … have no place to go.”

Hochul said that by showcasing the opening of the AvalonBay project in Harrison she hoped to build support for her plan to create 800,000 new units of housing in New York state. She said that her plan is to encourage communities to build whatever they want in order to fill local housing needs and that the plan was not intended to push for all communities to build high-rises containing only affordable units.

“I spent 14 years as a local elected official in communities just like this,” Hochul said. “I understand the pressure people are under, but you’re also in a position of leadership. You can tell the truth about what we’ve trying to achieve and the benefits for your community.”

Hochul reminded everyone that the approximately 3-acre site where the AvalonBay project is situated at the Harrison train station formerly was an at-grade parking lot.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said, “It took a long time to get this to marketplace but the bottom line is they’ve made it happen here in Harrison.” He said that the country’s policy is to work with local governments side-by-side to create needed housing, especially in the affordable category. Latimer pointed out that it took cooperation of numerous entities from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to the state government to bring the Harrison project to fruition.

Mitchell Forlenza, senior vice president of Avalon, said that the Harrison project was lengthy and complex. He noted that AvalonBay had been selected by the MTA as the developer in 2012.

“I’ve been with AvalonBay for over 27 years working on over 60 communities and I can say that Avalon Harrison was one of the most challenging projects we’ve ever had to build,” Forlenza said. “From the technical and administrative obstacles to the challenges of building and leasing up through a pandemic we could not have reached this day without the perseverance of so many people.”