The owner of the Gateway Port Chester Shopping Center on Boston Post Road in Port Chester is asking the village for approval to redevelop a building formerly occupied by Party City into spaces for up to four tenants. The property owner is M&J Wilkow Ltd. based in Chicago.
Party City in Port Chester closed early last year, following the company Party City Holdco filing for bankruptcy late in 2024 following a previous Chapter 11 filing in 2023. The second filing was to liquidate, and included plans for the closing of all of Party City’s approximately 700 retail locations.
The former Party City building at the Gateway Port Chester Shopping Center is 10,052 square feet and the exterior would be redone on three sides. There also would be new aluminum storefront awnings and outdoor seating areas. One of the four new units was described as likely being a 1,976 square feet coffee shop or quick service food establishment. A unit of 3,969 square feet would be a casual sit-down restaurant, possibly a pizza restaurant with associated sports bar. The other two units, 1,530 square feet and 1,770 square feet, are anticipated to be retail stores.
Architect Heather Michael Grew told the Port Chester Planning Commission that the building is oriented on a north/south axis with its frontage facing the interior of the shopping center.
“We do intend to add some exterior patio for outside seating for the restaurants,” Grew said and added that new pole lighting would illuminate the pedestrian paths and the patio seating. She said that new handicapped parking spaces would be added in close proximity to the building.
“The intent is to make this whole site more ADA accessible,” Grew said. She pointed out that while the plan calls for removing 38 parking spaces from what’s available in the shopping center, it still would have 1,806 spaces available which is 260 more than the 1,660 spaces that the village requires.
Members of the Planning Commission and village staff called for additional data on vehicular trips that would be generated by the new establishments in comparison with what Party City had done and how much parking the customers for each new tenant might be expected to use. It also was suggested that a handicapped access ramp be added to the right side of the building’s front where steps are shown.
