Lou Trangucci said that in his years as an elected member of the New Rochelle City Council, he has held an anti-development stance as companies came in with plans of building high-rises and major mixed-use projects in exchange for tax breaks. Companies would get profits, but what city residents would get was less clear, he said.
“Developers in the past have not shown us benefit(s) that would have been substantial to the city,” Trangucci said. But Trangucci, a Republican, voted in unison with the entire seven-person City Council on Monday, agreeing to officially enter into a master development agreement with a Long Island-based partnership in what city officials are calling the largest and most ambitious development project in the city”™s history.
The agreement aims to revitalize the downtown through development and redevelopment in two clusters that will include residential, retail, commercial and public spaces. A rezoning of the area is anticipated that will not only pave the way for construction on several city-owned properties, but also encourage existing private property owners to build up, elected officials said.
Mayor Noam Bramson, a Democrat, said the city”™s downtown development efforts have “come a long way and still have a long way to go.”
“We have an opportunity now to take a giant leap forward,” he said prior to casting his ”˜yes”™ vote. “It”™s up to all of us together to seize that opportunity.”
RDRXR, a partnership between RXR Realty LLC and Renaissance Downtowns, will use its “crowdsourced placemaking” process to gather input from the community and open a project office on North Avenue next year.
Councilman Al Tarantino, a Republican, said he was drawn to the partnership”™s approach to community outreach, which he said should ensure there is a net benefit to the community in any construction.
“In the past that wasn”™t always the case,” he said. “We”™ve gone through some false starts in the past and I believe this concept is very different and very unique.”
The financial obligations of both parties in the contract are unknown. A request from the Business Journal seeking a copy of the agreement and asking for specifics about the financial parameters was denied by a city spokeswoman, who said it would not be made public until signed by both parties. Based on discussions at a Tuesday meeting of the city”™s Local Development Corp., the companies will assume the cost of the initial zoning analyses, market analyses and state environmental quality studies.
The agreement will give the partnership exclusive development rights for a number of city-owned properties, including the public library parking lot, the train station, or “Transit Center,” and a number of parking garages ranging from Church to Garden streets.
Chuck Strome, the city manager, said purchasing of the properties would be contingent on the projects being shovel-ready. “They can”™t just get the property and just hold it forever until they decide to do a project,” he said during the Local Development Corp. meeting. “They”™ll have to have gotten the construction loans, guaranteed maximum price and be ready to go with the project.”
A comprehensive downtown development of New Rochelle could grow the city”™s skyline vertically and also dramatically increase its population. At nearly 80,000 residents, New Rochelle is Westchester County”™s second-largest city.
The city”™s Department of Development has joined with the New Rochelle Board of Education to contract a consultant that would study effects of the downtown redevelopment on student growth in the public school system.
Councilman Jared Rice, a Democrat, said the projects would not only broaden the city tax base but increase housing options for young people and empty nesters.
“This is the New Rochelle that we”™ve all been waiting for, this is the New Rochelle we”™re all ready for,” he said. “And I look forward to the time where we can put shovels in the ground, we can get some cranes in the air, we can get things going.”
My question is: Is the City going to look to give the local New Rochelle contractors work or is the work going to out of State and City contractors like they did with The Horton Avenue project??