Virginia-based Lennar Multifamily Communities LLC recently filed an application for financing with a Westchester County agency for a $275 million redevelopment project of the Westchester Pavilion, currently owned by Greenwich-based Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc.
Tim Mulcahy, mid-Atlantic and Northeast division president for Lennar, had been scheduled to make a presentation at the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency”™s March 12 meeting but did not attend.
Urstadt Biddle sought a zoning change about two years ago for the 185,000-square-foot shopping center in White Plains, but according to Lennar”™s application to the IDA, Urstadt Biddle and Maple and Broadway Holdings LLC, a legal entity of Lennar, had “entered into a purchase and sale agreement for the property.” The application also states that Lennar will make the purchase in cash and that “closing on the property is subject to several conditions,” but does not elaborate.
Representatives from Urstadt Biddle and Lennar did not respond to requests for comment.
Urstadt Biddle has owned the building since about 2003, and in recent years has lost tenants, including Toys R Us/Babies R Us and Borders Group Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in 2011. Previous reports by the Business Journal said Urstadt Biddle had outlined plans to build two 30-story residential towers and two nine-story buildings for a hotel and health club on the property”™s 3.58 acres.
Lennar, however, is proposing a “mixed-use facility, comprised of retail on the ground floor and multifamily dwellings above, together with associated parking and amenities” to replace the Westchester Pavilion at 60 S. Broadway. The developer anticipates 95,600 square feet for retail and 756,300 square feet of residential space.
Based on the tentative timeline in the application, Lennar expects to begin construction in May 2016 and open its doors three years later.