There”™s new visual evidence demonstrating that the 21st century transformation of the downtown section of Port Chester is accelerating.
Visitors to the village can”™t help but notice two construction projects that are underway at the key intersection where Westchester Avenue, South Main Street and North Main Street meet just east of the railroad bridge over Westchester Avenue.
The intersection, complete with a former police booth on an island, is just a stone”™s throw from the Metro-North train station.
At 1 N. Main St., the first stories of a five-story mixed-use building that was proposed by G&S Investors have risen. The 66,000-square-foot structure would have almost 12,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor with 79 apartments above in a mix of studio and one-bedroom units. Parking for residents would be across the street in designated spots at The Waterfront at Port Center shopping and entertainment complex.
The Waterfront at Port Chester itself at 35 Westchester Ave. has invigorated Port Chester”™s downtown in its approximately two decades of operation. Its G&S”™s 500,000-square-foot retail center that includes, among other names, Costco, Super Stop & Shop and AMC Theaters.
Diagonally across from 1 N. Main, work is proceeding on a project that joins a new five-story building at 18 N. Main with the historic Old Mutual Trust Building at 16 N. Main.
The developer is 1618 North Main LLC. It”™s converting the former bank building into a restaurant space with ground-floor and mezzanine-level seating.
Care is being taken to preserve the building”™s sculptured crown moldings and terracotta roof, arched cathedral windows and 20-foot inside ceiling height. The attached new building would offer six apartments along with additional space that could be used for commercial purposes or additional apartments.
Just up the street, Port Chester Holdings I LLC has been moving ahead with a plan to take down about one-quarter of the block and put up a new six-story 226,479-square-foot mixed-use building with addresses of 27-45 N. Main St. and 28 Adee St.
The first two floors of the five-story mixed-use building at 1 N. Main in Port Chester are up. Photo by Peter Katz.
It would have 203 apartments and 10,000 square feet of retail space. The building would extend from North Main around to Adee Street and in back to Abendroth Avenue, which parallels North Main. The Port Chester Planning Commission was continuing its review of the plan with a public hearing set for June 28.
There are other projects in the Port Chester downtown pipeline. Among them are:
- The Station Lofts, a 180-apartment building at New Broad Street and William Street;
- The Complex, a 120-apartment building at 18-20 S. Main St. and 21-25 E. Broadway;
- Broad Street Owner LLC”™s 12-story, 286-unit, 407,000-square-feet mixed-use building at 44 Broad St., across from the train station; and
- 30 Broad St./130 Irving Ave., a nine-story mixed use building with 22 residential units, about 10,000 square feet of offices and a microbrewery with brewpub.
The roots of much of what”™s happening today in Port Chester can be traced back to the mid-1980s when the Robert Martin Co. was in extensive talks with the village that led to creation of a downtown redevelopment concept.
It had an estimated cost of $250 million, about $625 million in today”™s dollars. The concept would have brought redevelopment to about 100 acres. It envisioned new apartments, a downtown office park, a new department store, smaller retailers, movies, a supermarket, restaurants and, significantly, waterfront improvements including a new marina. It was projected that the concept would take a dozen years to become brick-and-mortar reality.
When seeking New York state Downtown Revitalization Initiative funds in 2019, Port Chester characterized itself as “a ”˜tiny but mighty”™ 2.4-square-mile village ”¦ with a thriving downtown waterfront featuring some of the best restaurants and entertainment venues in the tristate area.”
The waterfront on the Byram River in the past positioned Port Chester as a manufacturing and industrial center. Now it”™s being viewed as a centerpiece in the downtown revitalization.
In 2010, much of the waterfront was closed to pedestrians due to the catastrophic failure of the bulkhead. Now, a public investment of about $10 million is going toward the Byram River Bulkhead Reconstruction Project. Opening up and developing the waterfront area is seen as an important element in assuring a bright future for the downtown.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that as of July 1, 2019, Port Chester”™s population was 29,163, up slightly from the 28,967 reported in the 2010 census. The bureau did not offer 2020 census results for the village. The village points to its population diversity and welcoming, inclusive environment as one of its finest qualities.
“Development should benefit everyone and not just the few,” Port Chester trustee and longtime village resident Joan Grangenois-Thomas told the Business Journal
“As a trustee I understand that in order to keep the village solvent and increasing assessables that development is a necessity and I get that, but at the same time we also know that there”™s a charm and a flavor that many people want to retain. How do we strike that balance between the two?”
In addition to serving on Port Chester”™s Board of Trustees, Grangenois-Thomas formerly served as volunteer executive director of the Sustainable Port Chester Alliance. She is the district director at the Westchester office of U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones and, in the past, served as president of the Port Chester/Rye NAACP.
“Port Chester is not White Plains, it is not New Rochelle, it is not Yonkers,” Grangenois-Thomas said. “We don”™t want to see those caverns that tall buildings create. We”™re not widening Main Street. It will remain narrow.”
She said that it”™s important to replicate the architectural charm of Port Chester”™s old buildings in new construction whenever possible.
“There is absolutely a danger of gentrification and pricing people out,” she said, noting that Port Chester”™s new form-based zoning code adopted last year requires that 10% of apartments in new buildings with more than 10 units to be set aside as affordable housing.
“It”™s going by the traditional countywide estimate of what is affordable. That limits who can gain access to these apartments in terms of what their income is.”
Grangenois-Thomas expressed optimism about Port Chester”™s future as it continues to become a bright spot on developers”™ radar but cautions that the needs and concerns of residents must continue to be heard.
“I”™m heartened that I”™m hearing more voices of people who are concerned about the future of Port Chester. It means that folks are sitting up and paying attention and speaking out,” Grangenois-Thomas said. “That to me is a sign that the conversations are starting to change. That to me is a sign that the needle is moving.”
