EDITOR”™S NOTE: Developer John Fareri, president of Fareri Associates L.P. in Greenwich, in January was announced as Westchester County”™s selected developer of a mixed-use, $1.2 billion health science and biotechnology center adjacent to the campuses of Westchester Medical Center and New York Medical College in Valhalla. The proposed Westchester BioScience and Technology Center would include a biotech research facility, children”™s science center, medical offices, a 100-room hotel and retail stores and restaurants. Fareri”™s numerous developments in Fairfield and Westchester counties include the 12-year-old Maria Fareri Children”™s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center, named in memory of the developer”™s 13-year-old daughter, who died of rabies at the Valhalla hospital in 1995.
Fareri”™s June 20 open letter to the Business Journal is similar to a previous version addressed to the chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators and delivered on June 1 to each of the county”™s 17 lawmakers.
”” John Golden
All of us associated with the Westchester Bioscience & Technology Center have been looking forward to a robust discussion with the Westchester County Board of Legislators since County Executive Rob Astorino sent them the proposed long-term lease for the so-called North 60 acres on the county campus at Valhalla. That was last January.
Unfortunately, since that time, very little has happened to advance the discussion, while at the same time, bioscience companies looking to expand in Westchester are leaving because they have no prospect of a place to expand and companies considering coming to the county are forced to locate elsewhere.
Yet, despite the growing list of lost economic opportunities, there is absolutely no sense of urgency on the part of the legislators who must review and approve the lease. In fact, consideration of our lease was put on a back burner for several months because the board members were said to be too busy reviewing the leases for Playland and a new hangar at Westchester Airport to focus on the creation of a bioscience and technology hub that promises to be the county”™s largest economic driver.
The board also took time out from the lease review while they retained a special counsel to review the North 60 lease and consider whether to conduct their own full-blown environmental review of the project plan. If the county conducts a time-consuming environmental study, it would then be duplicated by the town of Mount Pleasant, the local municipality in which the property is situated, which has to review and approve the plan after the lease is okayed.
At this point we have been given no clear indication when the board will take up the lease proposal again and how long they plan to review it once they do, but at this pace we”™re looking at years of review with no assurance of the outcome.
Unfortunately, the board is dawdling at a time when there is good reason to fast-track the review. A steady parade of news stories continue to demonstrate that while Westchester takes the slow road, our neighbors are moving at super high speed in creating and leasing bioscience and technology centers.
Just across the Hudson River in Rockland County, a developer has purchased more than 2 million square feet and 200 acres of the Pfizer campus in Pearl River. Pfizer will continue to be a presence. The company has retained 500,000 square feet and will lease back another 1.2 million. The new owner, IRG, is a nationwide commercial real estate specialist and is pursuing other bioscience and biotech uses compatible with Pfizer. With 38 buildings offering laboratory, office and manufacturing space already on site, and Pfizer as a lead tenant, they already have a solid base to build upon and they have already proposed construction of a new lab building.
Directly to our east in Fairfield, Fairfield University and a prominent local developer have announced plans to create a “high-tech hub” on the 68-acre General Electric campus. GE is relocating its corporate headquarters to Boston, freeing the property for new uses. The university will lease the site from the developer who is acquiring it from GE.
The cold fact is that companies will go where they can find space and can grow. They make their moves when they need to. In fact, we have recently learned of a bioscience company based at the Landmark at Eastview that wants to expand but had no lab options in Westchester. They are going to the Pfizer campus.
Our office was recently contacted by representatives of a pharma company with space in New Jersey that was looking to consolidate its operations. They had read about our plan and were ready to seriously consider Westchester until they realized that we can”™t provide a time frame for when they might be able to move in. Instead, they are relocating in New Jersey.
This is important reconnaissance. It validates our contention that if we build our project, they will come. Westchester has a unique opportunity to create the premiere bioscience and technology center in the entire region. The North 60 acres, plus our adjacent 20 acres, in Valhalla has access to an unparalleled transportation network, direct access to New York City and the entire Northeast and the collaborative advantages that come with sharing the greater Grasslands campus with the Westchester Medical Center, the Maria Fareri Children”™s Hospital and New York Medical College. The most successful and fast-growing bioscience company in the nation, Regeneron, is next door and Westchester County is already established as home to numerous other bioscience and technology companies both large and small.
The time has come for the Westchester legislators to put a full-court press on working with us to get the lease approved so that we can go to the town for its review. We need to get moving to assure Westchester”™s place at the center of what all agree is the single greatest growth area in our economy today and for the foreseeable future.
Make no mistake, our neighbors know that Westchester has distinct advantages. That”™s why they are moving as quickly as possible to establish themselves in the leadership position. Our team is committed to making sure that we do everything we can to assure we take advantage of the special assets only Westchester County offers. We trust and assume our legislative leaders share this view and we urge all those who want to see our economy and employment base grow to let them know that it”™s time to make implementing the bioscience and biotech hub an urgent and top priority.
John Fareri
