AmTrust Realty, which owns 303 South Broadway in Tarrytown is asking the Village of Tarrytown for a zoning change that would allow it to convert the office property into residential. A previous request for a zoning change made about three years ago did not move forward.
The office property is named Hudson Point and AmTrust describes it as a five-story Class A office building that was constructed in 1980 and underwent renovations in 1987 and 2020. The project sponsor is identified as 303 South Broadway Building Company LLC., which is at the same address in Manhattan as AmTrust.
While the developer has not submitted site plans to Tarrytown for review, it has submitted a zoning amendment petition. It would like to see Tarrytown’s Board of Trustees consider establishing an overlay zone that would apply only to certain properties in the Office Building District that have frontage on Route 9 (Broadway) or Route 119 (White Plains Road). The overlay zone would allow office properties to be redeveloped into residential uses. The Board of Trustees referred the zoning petition to the village’s Planning Board and also consented to the Planning Board acting as lead agency for an environmental review of the matter.
Attorney Brad K. Schwartz of the White Plains-based law firm Zarin & Steinmetz told the Board of Trustees that the architectural firm Perkins Eastman, JMC Site Development Consultants, and Nexus Creative Design are working on the concept for residential development. He described the 7.4-acre site as being located “prominently at the gateway to the village and at the foot of the Mario Cuomo Bridge. It is long-due to being reimagined to meet current market demand and the community’s needs.”
Schwartz expressed the opinion that there is an opportunity to do something truly special at the site.
“Prior to this submission, petitioner worked with its public engagement consultant (Nexus)to conduct three public outreach sessions to hear directly from the closest residents about their thoughts for the potential reuse of the property. These sessions were well attended.”
Schwartz described the intent of the project as being to convert an underperforming and outdated office building to a new, modern, multifamily residential housing with approximately 300 to 320 units. There would be a single-level parking deck on the north side of the building. The developer would provide 10% of the units as affordable housing as required by Tarrytown. They would be priced to be affordable to people earning 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI). In addition, the developer would provide another 5% of the units priced as moderate income workforce housing within reach of people earning 80% to 100% of the AMI.
Schwartz identified features of the plan being developed as including: a mix of unit types to accommodate different housing needs and income levels; a half-acre public park along Route 9 with seating and walking paths; connection to the RiverWalk created by Scenic Hudson; a reduction of impervious surfaces at the site through elimination of current parking lots; having a shuttle to and from the Metro-North train station; having more green and open spaces; having on-site recreation for new residents; increased landscape plantings and screening; and new tax revenues.
“All these and other project improvements are intended to enhance the public pedestrian experience along this stretch of Route 9, provide a range of new housing opportunities to help address the housing shortage, and make the property much more attractive and environmentally friendly,” Schwartz said. “Petitioner is also committed to working together with other agencies to help achieve their goals for increased mobility and connectivity in the area. These overarching design principles for the project capture all the community feedback received to date, and petitioner looks forward to continuing the open and transparent dialogue with the village and its residents.”
Jonathan Bennett, president of AmTrust Realty, referenced the previous zoning change request when he spoke to a work session of the Planning Board.
“We know that when we tried last time to advance the project there were various concerns,” Bennett said. “We hope that we’ve addressed them and we hope this time is going to be different. We’ve approached it much differently including community outreach. We want to do something special for us, the village, our neighbors, integrating into the community, collaborating with the stakeholders, and it’s very important to us. We also need to do what’s best for the building. It’s underperforming. In today’s climate everybody knows what’s happening with office buildings. It needs a fresh design and repurposing in an environmentally friendly way.”
Bennett said that AmTrust has owned the property at 303 South Broadway since 1997. He said the organization owns 12 million square feet of property across the U.S.
“We’re not just an owner landlord; we also develop,” Bennett said. “We truly look forward to working together, collaboratively with everyone to building something that everybody will be proud of.”
