New Rochelle chooses master developer to transform downtown

The skyline of New Rochelle is likely to change dramatically in the coming decades under what the mayor called the single most ambitious development project in the city”™s history.

Mayor Noam Bramson, a Democrat, said the architectural design of new developments will serve as the best advertisement that the city”™s economy is thriving. “It”™ll be an image that is recognized throughout the region,” he said.

The City Council on Tuesday chose a master developer to oversee two development clusters in the city”™s downtown in an effort to send a holistic jolt to the downtown infrastructure that will include mixed-use developments and vertical growth in the city”™s skyline.

RDRXR, a development partnership between Long Island companies RXR Realty LLC and Renaissance Downtowns, set an ambitious timeline of having shovels in the ground within 18 to 24 months. Partnership representatives told the City Council it planned to open a project office and would work with existing business owners and community stakeholders before finalizing its overarching plan.

Brandon Palanker, vice president of marketing and public affairs, told elected officials the partnership would use its “crowdsourced placemaking” process to gather input from residents and build consensus. He said as master developer, the partnership was not looking to replace existing buildings and oust current businesses but spark projects that would encourage them to build up as well.

“This could truly be a hub of innovation, arts and entrepreneurship,” he said. New Rochelle is Westchester County”™s second-largest city, with a population of nearly 80,000. The city”™s Department of Development has joined with the New Rochelle Board of Education to solicit proposals from potential consultants to study the effects of the downtown redevelopment on student growth in the public school system.

RXR has $7 billion in assets and 112 operating properties. Renaissance has $10 billion in the development pipeline and has completed 80 redevelopment projects in 35 years in business. The partnership has undertaken several master development projects across the country totaling 5.4 million square feet. It is currently in the process of undertaking a similar project in Hempstead, Long Island. The partnership was one of two candidates that responded to a Request for Qualifications issued by the city in May.

The first cluster centers around the New Rochelle train station abutting Interstate 95 and bisected by North Avenue. The second cluster includes a number of city-owned parking lots and other parcels, centering around the public library building.

The master developer said it envisions a glass atrium “front door to the community” at the New Rochelle Metro-North train station. The newly-christened Ruby Dee Park is likely to be a new public green space that could be complemented with a new library, cultural center and outdoor theater. The Garden Street area, near the I-95 exit, could see construction of medical space; the possibility of research space and innovation construction is strong because of the colleges in the city, Iona College and The College of New Rochelle. A hotel is also a likely piece of the plan.

The City Council must now negotiate the terms of the master development agreement, and once that is in place the partnership will begin the process of formulating plans. Until then, the amount of construction is unknown, but a recent transit-oriented development study ”“ one of three comprehensive development analyses the city commissioned ”“ identified the potential for an additional 1.5 million square feet of office and medical space, 2,000 apartments and 500,000 square feet of retail space. The creation of “overlay” zoning districts is likely for the clusters and may even be suggested in areas outside of those clusters, which head planner Mark Evans called “catalytic sites.”

“It”™s not just about the core downtown,” Evans said, adding the partnership would look for ways to connect areas including the marina into a unified, walkable downtown.

Although the partnership did not estimate the overall economic impact of the plan, it said similar master development undertakings in Long Island created as many as 12,000 temporary construction jobs, 5,000 permanent jobs and $39 million in tax revenue for the community.

Marissa Brett, president of the business advocacy group the Westchester County Association, released a statement saying, “We have never seen a project of this magnitude in Westchester. ”¦ New Rochelle can become a key growth area in Westchester ”“ and, as the cost of business goes up in Manhattan, more competitive in our regional economy.”

The city hired a marketing firm last month to brand the community, as officials look to tap into the trend of young, educated workers flocking to urban environments near mass transit. New Rochelle”™s train station on the New Haven Line is already among the busiest Metro-North stops, with roughly 5,000 weekday commuters and reverse commuters utilizing the less-than-half-hour trip to and from Grand Central Terminal. The station also has an Amtrak stop and will be connected to Penn Station when the New Haven Line extension is completed in 2021.

Councilman Barry Fertel, a Democrat and the longest-serving member of the City Council, said plans to re-spark the downtown were long awaited. “I guess we have to buckle up and get ready to take that ride,” he said.

To view the partnership’s PowerPoint presentation, click here.