A waterfront redevelopment project with a history that spans three decades, a succession of village mayors, a multitude of design changes and roller-coaster swings in the economy and housing and credit markets has been revived in Ossining by its site owner.
Developers at Harbor Square L.L.C., a partnership of Ginsburg Development Cos. and Cappelli Enterprises Inc., returned to village officials in February with plans to develop a six-story, 188-unit apartment building, a two-story, 10,000-square-foot restaurant and retail center and a roughly 3-acre waterfront park off Westerly Road on the west side of the Metro-North Railroad tracks. Still in an early design stage, the project was presented last month to the village”™s board of trustees and planning and architectural review boards. Trustees have not yet scheduled a public hearing on the proposal.
The developers hope to obtain village approval of their amended project site plan and begin construction of the long-delayed Harbor Square by late summer or early fall, said Daniel Mulvey, executive vice president at Ginsburg Development Cos. in Valhalla. Construction is expected to be completed in two years, he said.
Stalled by the 2008 recession and credit crisis, developer Martin Ginsburg has taken the lead in reviving a project that has divided Ossining residents as to it benefits and impact on the village”™s postindustrial waterfront. That division dates to 1998, when another prominent Westchester developer, Louis R. Cappelli, first proposed a mixed-use development on the site north of Sing Sing Correctional Facility. The previous year, Cappelli won redevelopment rights from the village over rival suitors Ginsburg and Collins Enterprises L.L.C. in Stamford, Conn. A few years later, Collins went downriver to build Hudson Park, a mixed-use development of luxury rental apartments, retail, restaurant and professional office space on the downtown Yonkers waterfront.
Ginsburg”™s company joined Cappelli”™s in the Ossining venture in 2005. The partners planned to build luxury condominiums before the project came to a halt in 2008. The revived plan includes rental units, driven by the realities of housing demand and construction financing in the economic downturn.
“Financing for-sale (multifamily projects) does not work right now,” said Joseph Dziegelewski, senior vice president and director of development at Ginsburg Development Cos.
Ginsburg company officials said the Harbor Square developer is in negotiations with potential financing sources. Cappelli remains a partner in the project, though it”™s not certain whether his company will invest more money in the redevelopment, they said.
The village of Ossining in December was chosen by state officials to receive a $485,000 state grant to aid in the construction of Harbor Square Promenade Park at the development site.
“We”™re trying to reenergize something that we”™ve always envisioned building and we”™re beginning to see that we might actually have a completed project,” Dziegelewski said. “Something needs to happen down there. It”™s been fallow with the economic downturn. This is an opportunity to get something done.”
First, though, the developer”™s design team will return to the drawing board with its plans for the massive residential building. The building”™s design received several thumbs-down verdicts from local critics at a recent planning board meeting.
“This building could be in Ossining, could be in Florida, could be anywhere,” said one Ossining resident, voicing a commonly heard complaint.
“It”™s our waterfront. We deserve better,” said Joanne Tall, head of the village historic preservation commission.
“My sense is you”™re not sure where you”™re at with this building yet,” said John Fry, an architect and Ossining planning board member. “I think the bones of the project are all there and they”™re all positive.”
Jerry Gershner, president of Gershner Realty Services in Ossining and a past president of the Greater Ossining Chamber of Commerce, said the community should have no input in the Harbor Square redesign.
“This project should have been decided 15 years ago,” he said. “This is a redesign of a project that was finally decided five or six years ago. It”™s over. It”™s been decided. “
“Ossining has foregone millions of dollars in real estate taxes from this project being delayed so long,” Gershner said. “This should be a dead issue.”
“Let”™s dig. Dig and send out the real estate tax bill, please.”
