LeCount marches forward - Westfair Communications

LeCount Square, a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use project by developer Louis Cappelli, is ready to move forward.

New Rochelle City Manager Charles Strome III said the City Council approved the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) findings and recommendations with a 6-1 vote last week.

“This project is vital to the continued revitalization of our downtown, and the approval of the statement indicates the commitment on the city”™s and developer”™s part to try to move the project forward during these tough economic times,” Strome said.

Joseph Apicella, executive vice president at Valhalla-based Cappelli Enterprises Inc., said the developer expects city approval of a project site plan in early 2009 and next spring will seek construction financing for the approximately $450 million project.

Cappelli hopes to break ground by late spring or early summer of ”™09, he said.

“This is a major hurdle that we”™ve gotten over,” Apicella said. “Now the only approvals left are the approvals relating to the site plan.”

Apicells said the zoning has already been approved.

Mayor Noam Bramson said the next step is for the developer to finalize its site control and obtain site plan approval from the city”™s Planning Board.

“LeCount square presents tremendous economic and planning benefits to New Rochelle, particularly in a challenging economic climate,” Bramson said.

Craig King, the city”™s commissioner of development, said the total size of the project will be 1,021,000 square feet.

King said there will be 1,027 total parking spaces on four levels of underground parking.

Apicella said there will be 543 self-park spaces for the retail stores and 484 valet spaces, 210 spaces for offices and the rest for residents and hotel guests.

There will also be some utilization of the New Roc City parking garage.

King said the project, which will be located at the intersection of Huguenot Street and North Avenue, will be “the keystone in the entire downtown.”

Apicella said the project will feature 154,000 square feet of retail space, 330,000 square feet of office space, 150 hotel rooms with 140,000 square feet and 243 residential units, including a 98-foot-high loft building with 58 units an a 493-foot-high residential tower with 185 units at 374,400 square feet in total.