White Plains project stalls
Developers were to break ground on a 42,000-square-foot plus upscale retail complex along 6.6 acres at 120 Bloomingdale Road in White Plains last fall, but as the leaves begin to change this year, neither bulldozer nor new building were in sight.
The $25 million project proposed by Core Plus Properties in Stamford, Conn., a private real estate investment and management firm, would be built on the existing parking lot of the site”™s 144,860-square-foot commercial office building.
Proposals for The Venue included: a 6,000-square-foot restaurant and outdoor café, a two-story parking garage with 501 parking spaces, approximately 15-plus stores and additional specimen trees and landscaping.
BlackRock Inc. in New York City, financial partners for The Venue declined comment, but Melissa Garville, a spokeswoman, said the project is “up in the air.”
One question arises as the site sits still ”“ will the development be a casualty of the recession?
“I hear they”™re on hold,” said Milagros Lecuona, White Plains Common Council member and a senior designer at architectural firm Peter Gisolfi Associates in Hastings-on-Hudson.
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In a 6-1 Common Council vote that took place in May 2008, Lecuona was the only city official to vote against the proposed development.
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Of her decision, the councilwoman said “there were just too many things that were of concern.”
She said there were 50 environmental issues “that the project was not addressing.”
“The parking that they were going to put on top of the roof ”“ neighboring residents would be looking right at it,” she said. “Another concern was when you have a roof that functions as a parking lot, the sun hits the concrete and metal on the cars, which can be really unpleasant for people in the neighborhood.”
Though developers outlined a plan to plant additional specimen trees, Lecuona said “they would be much smaller trees” and approximately 90 of the existing trees outlining the property would be cut down.
“Another big concern for the developer is that based on the master plan, you must prove the type of business the development is bringing into the game and that there would be a profit for the city and developer,” she said. “They (the owners) said they”™d bring very sophisticated-type stores.”
When up for approval, an argument ensued.
“I told them there were other stores that were the same type as the ones they were closing (leases on),” she said. “It wasn”™t consistent with reality. Through the whole banking crisis, we”™ve seen stores foreclose. Look at Fortunoff. So far, I think it”™s (the delay) proven that we shouldn”™t have approved this project.”
The Venue was expected to generate $600,000 in sales taxes and $250,000 in property taxes annually for the city.
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Area commercial brokers had various ways to describe the project ”“ from “ill-conceived” to “more than aggressive at the time.”
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Martin Deitch, founding partner of commercial brokerage Aries, Deitch & Endelson in Hartsdale, called it “ambitious.”
“Where things are heading and where they”™re going, commercial (development) will be the last to bounce back,” he said. “People need confidence in employment and their homes. There are no markets for new retail.”
Deitch said a number of factors could impact a delay in development.
“There is no financing out there and they probably bought the site at a high (price),” he said. “With the market somewhat collapsing and commercial and office rates down about 20 to 25 percent coupled with retailers not making deals, it”™s not that surprising. The concept of The Venue came in the heyday of ”˜anything goes.”™”
Square-footage costs were in an estimated $70-per-square-foot to $80-per-square-foot range.
“If they were planning to do a special, luxury commercial project, it may have been more than that,” Lecuona said. “These developments ”“ they change from night to day depending on how the market is doing.”
Repeated calls to Core Plus Properties were not returned.
Calls to the White Plains Planning Department went unreturned.
Engineers for the project, White Plains-based Divney Tung Schwalbe, declined comment.
Arrowstreet, the architect for the project, would not return calls for comment.