Developer Robert Weisz believes the surface is just being scratched when it comes to what the market will bear in the way of new apartments in Westchester over the next few years. At the same time, Weisz is bullish on prospects for the county”™s economy.
Weisz was the keynote speaker at the UJA Federation of New York”™s Westchester Business and Professional Division Annual Event on May 13.
In addition to hearing the keynote by Weisz, the event recognized three individuals for their leadership. They are Ben Blumberg, executive vice president and partner of Stark Office Suites; Judy Stern, physical therapist and certified teacher of the Alexander Technique; and Jack Stern, founder of Brain & Spine Surgeons of New York.
Weisz said, “As you all know, Westchester has always been a terrific place to live: great housing, great schools, terrific higher education with colleges and universities and an outstanding location.”
He described as a dramatic change the evolution whereby municipalities changed zoning to allow taller and taller residential towers to be built in Westchester.
“It allowed people to live in the county and not pay the extremely high prices of our houses,” Weisz said. “Having rental units that people can afford makes the county much more appealing to companies because they can find staff. They can have employees that live in the county and don”™t have to commute from far away.”
Weisz said that experts think there now is market demand for 40,000 to 50,000 new residential units in Westchester.
“We are just scratching the surface right now. We have a backlog of a great need that will be fulfilled over the next few years,” Weisz said. “At the same time some of the towns have allowed retail to be developed in areas that before were not allowed, that were for office buildings,” Weisz said, pointing to the Wegmans and Life Time Fitness locations in former office parks as success stories.
“We”™ve got two massive projects and they are doing extremely well. They”™re both parts of big chains and these locations in Westchester are one of the most successful in the entire chain,” Weisz said.
“That just confirms and proves that Westchester has a great demand. We are just in the early stages of what we expect to be a great economic boom in the county.”
Weisz noted that health care and biotechnology are just two of the growth areas in Westchester.
“This is a county now that is creating a foundation for what is going to be over the next few years a great deal of development,” Weisz said.
“Development means a lot of good things. It means more revenue for the cities, which eventually could translate into lower real estate taxes for all of our residents. It creates a lot of employment; it”™s a place for people to work without having to commute too far and certainly allows the retail world ”” that we all know has been punished ”” a great deal to survive.”
Weisz said feedback from tenants in his office buildings reinforces that economists and others likely are correct when they suggest there could be an exceptionally strong economic recovery.
“We are getting a sense of that from our tenants that are in many different industries; that we are at the beginning of a great expansion,” Weisz said. “I”™ve heard that economists are predicting close to 6% growth, which is unprecedented. That”™s for the whole economy for the entire country. We think that the percentage of growth that the county is going to benefit from is going to be much greater than what”™s happening throughout the country. I”™m bullish as you can tell about Westchester.”
