Downtown project could add to Port Chester’s housing surge

A proposed mixed-use development targeting millennials in the heart of Port Chester”™s downtown could make its way to the village board for zoning approval early next year, officials said this week.

Village Planner Jesica Youngblood said a plan to build a maximum 79-unit apartment building with 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space at the intersection of Westchester Avenue and Main Street will be presented to the village Board of Trustees at its Jan. 4 meeting.

G&S Investors plans to develop this vacant lot in downtown Port Chester for rental apartments and retail space.

An attorney for the developer, G&S Port Chester LLC, an entity of G&S Investors in Manhattan, said the plan is a mix of predominantly studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments in what would be a maximum five-story building.

The vacant, undeveloped site, known as “Coney”™s Lot” in submitted plans is currently zoned for 40,000 square feet of retail space. A previous developer was approved for a 40,000-square-foot retail development on the site in 1999, which would have required village trustees to adopt a zoning amendment. That plan never came to fruition.

“This is very different than that,” Youngblood said of the G&S proposal.

Dan Tartaglia, the attorney representing G&S Port Chester, said the proposed transit-oriented development is geared toward millennials and young professionals who could take advantage of the village”™s Metro-North train station across Main Street. The site is also across from an AMC Loews movie theater and a Buffalo Wild Wings location, and the Capitol Theatre and several restaurants including bartaco, Saltaire Oyster House and Copacabana Steakhouse are within walking distance.

G&S Investors also developed The Waterfront at Port Chester,  a 500,000-square-foot retail hub that houses the Loews cinema complex as well as Costco, Bed Bath and Beyond, Super Stop & Shop and Marshalls.

A preliminary rendering of G&S Investors”™ mixed-use development in downtown Port Chester.

“We”™re seeking to put in a residential mix to continue to strengthen the downtown retail,” Tartaglia said. “Retail reinforces and provides services for residents. Both uses end up reinforcing each other.”

Tartaglia said although no retail tenants have yet been selected, they would most likely be small businesses and neighborhood retail rather than the national retailers that make The Waterfront a shoppers”™ destination. A restaurant tenant is also possible, he said. The village”™s 2012 Comprehensive Plan calls for mixed-use development in that downtown area.

Pending board approval, Tartaglia said he hoped the site plan review could be completed by the end of 2016.

The attorney did not provide an estimated cost for the project.

Youngblood called architect”™s renderings for the site “very preliminary,” adding that design and contruction details of the building would be worked out during the site review phase pending village board approval of amended zoning. She said G&S could lower the number of residential units before a formal application is submitted.

Youngblood said a board vote on the zoning amendment could come at the January meeting if the developer has completed the state-required environmental impact report for the proposed project by then.

“Port Chester fits strategically between Stamford, where there is a number of millennial, senior housing and transit-oriented developments as well as White Plains and New Rochelle,” she said. “It”™s also in a very nice position at the elbow of many transportation routes in the region.”

The Coney”™s Lot project is the latest in a series of housing and mixed-use developments that have been completed or are planned for the village of 29,000 residents.

Starwood Capital Group, based in Greenwich, has proposed a $300 million redevelopment of the former United Hospital property at 406 Boston Post Road. The project, now being reviewed by village officials and the subject of public hearings, includes 90,000 square feet of street-level shops and restaurants, a 135-room hotel, 217,000 square feet of office space, 500 residential units for young professionals and 230 age-restricted senior residential units.

Closer to the downtown G&S site, The Mariner, a $35 million, 100-unit luxury apartment building developed by Phoenix Capital Partners L.L.C., opened at 21 Willett Ave. in October 2012.

Youngblood cited two projects under construction – The Castle, a mixed-use redevelopment with 120 residential units and ground-floor office space at 201 Willett Ave. also being developed by Phoenix Capital Partners with the Maryland-based Bozzuto Group as leasing agent, and a 50-unit rental building at 120 N. Pearl St. developed by Lighthouse Enterprises LLC in White Plains – as adding to the collective effort to make Port Chester a destination for millennials and empty nesters through housing and retail development.

Youngblood called the projects a “redevelopment renaissance.” The village, which developed a Comprehensive Plan and made zoning amendments to boost local business, is now seeing the “fruits of that labor,” she said.