Apartment developer seeks community input in Greenburgh
A Texas-based developer of multifamily housing is seeking early input from community residents on the company”™s proposed 296-unit apartment project off the Saw Mill River Parkway in Greenburgh before presenting plans to town officials for approval.
Called Jefferson at Saw Mill River, the proposed development by JPI Multifamily Partners LLC is at 1 Lawrence St. on vacant property that was the former site of the Akzo Nobel chemical plant. JPI plans a multimillion-dollar environmental cleanup of the 11-acre property with tax-credit incentives through the state”™s brownfields program. JPI on its project website said the site”™s contaminants include three cancer-causing chemicals.
The developer, headquartered in Irving, Texas, proposes to build 296 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with 10 percent of the units reserved as affordable housing for senior citizens. The environmental cleanup and project construction are slated to be completed in 28 months after the developer receives required approvals from town officials, said Greg Belew, JPI”™s managing regional partner in New York City.
- A rendering of the proposed Jefferson at Saw Mill River apartment project.
The project site is directly across the Saw Mill River Parkway from Rivertowns Square, an approximately $150 million, 440,000-square-foot mixed-use development under construction on another parcel of the former Akzo Nobel chemical plant in Dobbs Ferry. The Rivertowns Square project includes a 202-unit, 277,000-square-foot luxury residential building. JPI officials said they will explore with Saber Properties, the Rivertowns Square developer, sharing a shuttle service from the two sites to nearby Metro-North train stations.
JPI officials anticipate their Jefferson at Saw Mill River apartments will add a maximum of 34 students to the Ardsley school district, which has seen a nearly 5 percent decline in enrollment over the last five years.
Belew said the vacated Akzo Nobel property, on which JPI has a purchase contract, currently pays about $200,000 yearly in property taxes. The apartment development when fully occupied is expected to generate an average of $2 million annually in property taxes. “It really is a windfall from a tax revenue standpoint for the municipality and school district,” he said.
The developer plans to reserve half of the site as a nature preserve and, as a community improvement, add bicycle racks, benches, rest areas and new trailhead parking spaces for cyclists and others using the adjacent South County Trailway.
JPI officials said the development fits the town of Greenburgh”™s draft plan to develop a research and development hub in a southern area of the town that borders the village of Dobbs Ferry and Hastings-on-Hudson. They said the development “will provide much needed access to diverse rental housing” to employees of biotech and science and engineering firms in the county.
“The more housing options available,” said Belew, “we think it”™s going to make it more attractive for other biotech companies to move there.” And with the influx of residents, “It”™s going to really give a boost to all the local retailers and shops in the area.”
Belew said the Greenburgh rental housing, like other JPI developments, is expected to attract young professionals as well as empty nesters and tenants downsizing from larger homes.
JPI will host a community open house to discuss planned traffic improvements and other details of the project on April 22, from 6 to 8 p.m. in Life The Place to Be at 2 Lawrence St. outside Ardsley. Additional information about the apartment community will be posted on the Jefferson at Saw Mill River website at jeffersonsawmill.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/jeffersonsawmill.
“JPI looks forward to becoming a welcome neighbor in the Greenburgh community,” said Stephen Hutto, the company”™s vice president of development, when announcing the event. “We understand the importance of working with the community to develop a project that meets a growing need for a wider variety of housing choices and generates significant revenue for the future benefit for the schools, town and county residents.” Hutto called the development “a win-win for Greenburgh and the surrounding community.”
A national developer and manager of Class A multifamily housing, JPI has built two projects in New York totaling $147 million. They are the Jefferson at Merritt Park, a 361-unit complex in Fishkill, and the Residences at Jefferson Place, a 281-unit high-rise development in White Plains.
On Long Island, Belew said, the 26-year-old company is wrapping up construction of Jefferson at Farmingdale Plaza, a 154-unit transit-oriented development with 20,000 square feet of retail space next to the Farmingdale train station.