Westchester-based RPW Group and Cleveland-based The NRP Group have broken ground to start construction on an apartment development at 1 Webb Ave. in Harrison, adjacent to RPW’s property at 800 Westchester Ave. in Rye Brook. The office building at 800 Westchester Ave., at one time was the corporate home to General Foods.
The site for the five-story apartment building is 10-acres in size. The building will have 200 apartments. There are to be 30 studios, 75 one-bedroom units, 11 one-bedrooms with dens, and 84 two-bedroom units. Five percent of units in the development are to be priced as affordable housing for residents earning 80% of the Area Median Income.
Five acres of the site will be set aside as open space which includes an outdoor walking trail system that will be open to the public, a dog park, and a community garden operated by the West Harrison-based nonprofit Our New Way Garden. Additionally, two landscaped courtyards will include grill and lounge areas, a heated pool, and fire pits.
The building, designed by Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners, will be LEED Silver certified. There will be a state-of-the-art gym, an indoor lounge area for social gatherings, a shared workspace including individual work pods, an indoor dining room, a commuter coffee lounge, and a playroom for children.
“We look forward to enhancing Harrison’s vibrant community with our latest luxury residential project,” said Jonathan Gertman, senior vice president of Development at The NRP Group. “This development will offer ample green spaces and integrate beautifully designed architecture with top-notch amenities.”
Andrew Weisz, president of RPW Group, said, “Our partnership with The NRP Group is crucial to realizing our vision to honor the site’s potential and to provide quality homes that embrace indoor-outdoor living.”
The White Plains-based law firm Zarin & Steinmetz, which represented the developers with Harrison during the approval process for the project, noted that it took nearly three years to complete the environmental review and zoning process. It said that the site is dominated by invasive species, and located within the Blind Brook floodplain corridor. Zarin & Steinmetz said the project will include a complete eco-restoration and rehabilitation of approximately 2.6 acres of wetlands, riparian buffer and floodplain forest habitats.
When the project was first proposed, Robert Weisz, founder of RPW Group, told the Business Journal, “We believe that Westchester is dramatically underserved on rental apartments that are modern, that are new, that are affordable. It definitely helps our businesses located in Westchester if some of the workforce that they need is able to live practically within walking distance. It’s going to be a very substantial investment in the Town of Harrison.”
