A $300 million project by Starwood Capital Group that would turn the former United Hospital site in Port Chester into a mixed-use development has taken two steps toward finalizing its plan. The developers submitted a request for a zoning amendment and a preliminary final environmental impact statement to the village.
The requested zoning changes, discussed at a workshop meeting by the Port Chester Board of Trustees on April 26, were first considered during the draft environmental impact statement process for the development.
Starwood wants to convert the former hospital site at 406 Boston Post Road into a development that will include a 135-room hotel, 217,000 square feet of medical office space, 90,000 square feet for retail or small restaurants, 500 residential units targeting young professionals, 230 age-restricted apartment units for people 55 and over and about an acre of open public space.
United Hospital closed in 2006. Starwood bought the property that same year for $28 million.
Starwood recognized during the DEIS process that current zoning for the site wouldn”™t fit the project and considered two remedies. In the first, the developer would propose a new overlay zoning district that would include the option to build with greater density, among other changes. The second option was simply to amend the existing planned mixed-use district for the site to allow for a higher density. The developer elected for the second option and proposed it along with its preliminary FEIS.
The current zoning for the site allows for a density of 0.8 floor area ratio, a measurement of building size compared with the size of its lot. The change would allow Starwood to build to a 1.6 floor area ratio.
The actual zoning amendment would only allow for a 1.4 floor area ratio in the zone, however. In exchange for the density beyond that, Starwood has proposed a one-time $1 million payment to the village. That money can be used for community benefits such as affordable housing and job training.
The village hired AKRF, an engineering consultancy in White Plains, to review Starwood”™s proposal. AKRF researched three questions in its report:
- Whether the project requires increased density to be viable;
- Whether it requires a PILOT to be viable; and
- How much Starwood should pay as a community benefit fee to be allowed the increased zoning.
AKRF found that the current allowed density in the United Hospital zoning area does not allow “development density necessary to create a viable project given (Starwood”™s) requested mix of uses proposed.” Therefore, an amendment to the zoning of the property to allow for more density would be required for the project to be feasible.
AKRF also found that a PILOT agreement would be necessary. AKRF Vice President John Neill told the village board that the project would require “some level of abatement of property taxes to be economically viable.”
As for the bonus density fee, AKRF said Starwood should be able to pay a higher fee. The report states the appropriate fee could be between $2.4 million and $3.4 million. That estimate incorporates several factors, including the assessed value of the property. Starwood assessed the property”™s value at $130 million, while AKRF said that value could more likely fall between $133 million and $183 million.
Starwood submitted a preliminary FEIS to the village for review on May 2. The village board will review the document, which is available on the village”™s website, and hold a public hearing possibly this month.
The workshop related to the zoning amendment and preliminary FEIS was the second the board of trustees held related to the project. Earlier in April, the board ran a workshop to discuss any traffic issues for the project.
Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla said the workshops were held to take a “deep dive” on the project.
“This is not to slow things down, but rather to speed things along,” Pilla said at the meeting. “So we can get looking at this as quickly as possible and can get the project team focused on it as much as possible.”
Pilla told the Business Journal that he expects to hear many of the same comments during the FEIS approval process as during the draft environmental impact statement process.
“It’s an exciting project,” Pilla said. “And I think we have to get it right so that it”™s good for Port Chester and good for the developer as well.”
