The developer of a proposed 554-unit, twin-towered apartment and retail complex in downtown White Plains has presented a revised site plan to city officials for the two-phase project. The City Council will review plan details this winter.
The cost of the 55 Bank St. project has been estimated at $250 million by owner LCOR Development Services L.L.C. It apparently still lacks willing lenders since LCOR last summer was forced to redesign the project in two phases to attract financing in ever tighter capital markets. An LCOR vice president heading the project from the Pennsylvania-based company”™s Manhattan office has not replied to repeated requests for comment.
The developer”™s former partner in this and other real estate ventures was Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the New York investment bank that filed for bankruptcy last year.
According to plans submitted to the city in December, LCOR would build the first of two 280-foot towers at the north end of the 2.6-acre site, now a parking lot used by Metro-North Railroad commuters. The tower, positioned perpendicular to Bank Street so as to slim down the bulk of the development when viewed from downtown and nearby neighborhoods, would include approximately 222 market-rate rental units and 56 units of affordable housing for residents earning at levels below Westchester County”™s median income.
The first phase also would include 2,500 to 3,000 square feet of street-level retail space and a 559-space, seven-story parking garage. The parking facility was reduced from 13 stories after Common Council members last summer opposed a garage at that height.
The two towers together are expected to accommodate 1,045 residents in 443 market-rate apartments and 111 affordable units.
Construction of the north tower and garage is expected to take 18 to 20 months. The project”™s second phase, which would add 105 on-site surface parking spaces with the use of attendant-operated car stacking lifts, would begin approximately three years after completion of the first phase. It would include about 6,600 square feet of retail space.
The two-phase project construction is expected to create 500 jobs. About 20 permanent jobs will be created with the opening of 55 Bank St.
