An entity based in Ossining, 444 Associates LLC, is proposing to covert a former bank building in Pleasantville into apartments and add new construction over the adjacent parking lot. The building is located at 444 Bedford Road and formerly housed Chase Bank. Before Chase, other banks had made the building their own including The Bank of New York and First National Bank.
Jorge B. Hernandez of the Ossining-based architectural firm ARQ Architecture, has been representing the developer in presenting the project known as The Landmark at 444 to Pleasantville’s Planning Commission. He said the developer wants to convert the upper four floors of the five-story bank building into apartments with new construction over the existing parking lot on Bedford Road and along the edge of the property facing Wheeler Avenue. Commercial space also would be included in the bank building.
The plans call for a total of 36 apartments, equally divided between the bank building and the new construction. The number of apartments was reduced from the 40 that were proposed in a previous iteration of the project. The developer is proposing to merge the two lots that have the bank building and the parking lot. According to Hernandez, the developer intends to preserve architectural features of the bank building.
According to Hernandez, there would be 20 one-bedroom units and 16 two-bedroom apartments. The retail space would cover 3,000 square feet on the ground floor of the bank building and 900 square feet on the bank building’s mezzanine level.
“It is our sincerest hope that the commission will agree that the proposed project will be an added benefit to the local community and, in fact, provide a positive impact in the community while enhancing the overall character of the neighborhood within the immediate vicinity of the property,” Hernandez said.
A consultant for the village, Sarah Brown of the engineering firm Hardesty & Hanover in a Sept. 10 memo to the Planning Commission noted that the developer did not include detailed engineering plans with the material it had submitted. She said that future submissions from the developer should include a construction management plan, grading plans, landscaping, and lighting plans. The consultant also called for more details to be provided by the developer on the Environmental Assessment Form it submitted. It was not immediately known when the developer would be back before the Planning Commission to continue the review of the proposal.
