The White Plains Common Council at its Feb. 5 meeting gave site plan approval to a multifaceted project on the 16.09-acre former Good Counsel property at 52 N. Broadway in White Plains. The Council also approved an environmental findings resolution for the project. The action was taken as part of what is known as a “Consent Agenda,” in which a number of different agenda items on which the counsel members agree are voted upon together.
In a revised plan submitted in 2021, WP Development NB LLC proposed construction of independent and assisted living apartments for seniors, 28 townhouses and a 48-unit structure adjacent to a former convent. The property was home to the Academy of Our Lady of Good Counsel and the Convent of the Sisters of the Divine Compassion.
The original development proposal ran into opposition from residents of adjacent areas, who wanted to maintain the existing character of the property while also preventing the use of adjacent Ross Street and Stewart Place for site access. The developer originally had proposed up to 95 units for assisted living, 70 residences for Pace University Law School, and 400 apartments in two 10-story buildings. There would have been more than 650 parking spaces. Downsized plans were developed.
The project had undergone a full environmental study under the State Environmental Quality Review Act. The council had voted to accept environmental findings and apply a new Planned Residential Development Zoning District to the site.
The Common Council had approved a campus Master Plan that called for preservation of the historic chapel, Mapleton House, and western wing of the convent and landscaping of open space. Mapleton House is on the National Register of Historic Places. The new multifamily residential building would contain 48 units, 94% of which will be studio and one-bedroom units.
Along the site’s eastern edge, a Senior Care Facility for seniors age 55 and up would have a six-story independent living section structure with 232 units and a four-story assisted living structure with 103 units. The buildings will share parking in garages within the first level and below the buildings. The 28 single-family, two-story townhouses will be within portions of the northern and southern areas of the site and to the west of the Senior Care Facility.
Open space would include approximately 2.09 acres along N. Broadway that would be maintained as a publicly accessible area.
“It’s been quite a while since you saw this application, plan, etcetera. It has not changed,” Attorney William Null of the White Plains-based law firm Cuddy & Feder LLP told the Common Council at its Jan. 29 work session. “We’ve gone through the gauntlet and worked through the details with your very professional staff. Since November of ’21, with favorable Planning Board review and design Review Board approval and Historic Preservation Commission approval we’re now back and hopefully at your next meeting we’ll be able to secure site plan approval for the project.”
Historic preservation includes maintaining the Chapel of the Divine Compassion for ongoing use and preserving the historic Mapleton House. Null explained that in designing the site the architectural firm Perkins Eastman included a beautiful landscaped area for people to gather.
“The concept behind it was to recognize and pay homage to the history of the site as a place to gather for the community,” Null said. “Looking north, you can see the chapel, you can see the multifamily behind it and the convent, but from N. Broadway when you look to the east the facade is going to be very much what you see as the view currently. There are 28 two-story townhouses essentially on the north and south perimeter, so that’s low-level height-wise and they are going to be in place so that their sides are facing N.Broadway, so that when you’re looking you really are still seeing the expanse of the chapel, of the convent across that direction.”
Null emphasized that the developer had taken care of the neighbors’ wish for there not to be any vehicular access from Ross Street or Stewart Place. He said there would be emergency vehicle access if necessary but no vehicles would routinely flow to or from those streets.
Councilman Justin Brasch asked Null what construction schedule the developer had in mind. Null said that a schedule had not been formlated.
“We haven’t been able to do anything like that because of the hold on it,” Null said.” No one would go to the next level of plans to get it bid without having site plan approval. So, the client is still committed to moving forward with the project and we have to go through the construction design and then go out to bid and see how it all pulls together.”
