The entity that purchased the former Nathan Miller Nursing Home property at 37 Dekalb Ave. in White Plains in Feb. 2024 for $1 million is asking White Plains to again approve plans to convert the property into an apartment building. Previous site plan and special permit approvals for redevelopment expired and current owner 37 Dekalb LLC has filed new plans that essentially are the same as what was previously approved.
The White Plains Common Council has scheduled a public hearing on the new application for its Oct. 6 meeting.
When operated as The Nathan Miller Center for Nursing, the building was a 66-patient nursing home with one doctor’s office and 15 off-street parking spaces.
As far back as 2012 there was a proposal to convert the building into a facility for people recovering from drug or alcohol addiction. The proposal generated intense neighborhood opposition. In order to satisfy the zoning for the site, Sunrise Detox wanted to designate the facility as a “community residence.” The city’s building commissioner determined that it did not qualify as a “community residence” and the city could not act on the proposal until Sunrise either applied for a variance or appealed the determination. Sunrise went to court, alleging discrimination and a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, but lost the case and subsequently sold the property.
According to Attorney William Null of the White Plains-based law firm Cuddy & Feder, the previous owner of the property, 37 Dekalb Owner LLC in 2019 was granted Special Permit and Amended Site Plan approval to redevelop the property into an apartment building. Multiple extensions were granted by the council that kept the approvals alive until they lapsed in August 2024.
“There are no proposed changes to the approved plans, nor are we aware of any materially changed circumstances having occurred that would alter the rationale for granting the prior approval,” Null said. He said that inability to put together the necessary financing for the redevelopment had led to the approvals being allowed to lapse.
There would be 21 apartments created and the basement of the existing building would be converted to a garage that together with the at-grade parking lot would provide a total of 21 parking spaces for residents. Null said that the city has issued appropriate permits to allow work to begin to stabilize the existing structure.
“The building currently is having major structural improvements made to it where over the past many years nothing really had happened to it other than being boarded up and fenced around,” Null said. “The new owner, who is doing this work on the site, has requested that the approvals be granted so that it could proceed with the 21 units that had been contemplated and for which the site had been rezoned.”
Null said the fact that there now is money being spent and work being done to pursue being able to do the redevelopment is important.
“This will be I think a really good multifamily building in this neighborhood,” Null said.
When asked what sort of timeline the new owner has in mind for the redevelopment, Null said, “My sense is that the only reason the current owner is doing the work now is to make it ready so that they can continue working on it if we get the approval. My expectation is it’s a continuum and they will be working on the building as soon as they get the green light. The financial world is a difficult world and they’re moving forward, spending money, at a time when it’s not so easy to spend money. They bought the site to develop it, certainly not to keep it boarded up and fenced, and they’re intent on moving forward with this project and making it a reality.”
