Developers of the massive Hamilton Green residential-retail complex in White Plains claim that Consolidated Edison Company nearly derailed the project by refusing to remove electrical equipment installed below ground 51 years ago.
Hamilton Green I Partners and LRC Construction are demanding $602,640 from Con Edison – including more than $300,000 it paid the utility company under protest to remove electrical equipment – in a complaint filed Jan. 8 in Westchester Supreme Court.
If the developers had not paid the removal fee, the complaint states, they would have had to halt work on the $380 million Phase One and put 1,000 workers out of their jobs.
Hamilton Green is a $650 million project on the site of the former White Plains Mall that will ultimately comprise four structures with 860 apartments, retail space and offices; underground parking garages; and public open space.
RXR Realty of Uniondale, Nassau County, and The Cappelli Organization, White Plains, are the developers. Cappelli’s LRC Construction is the general contractor.
White Plains Mall opened in 1972 on a 3.75-acre, downtown block between Hamilton and Barker Avenues and between Cottage Place and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
LRC demolished the mall and was removing contaminated soil on a 1.8-acre portion of the site in November 2022 when it discovered five, concrete vaults with electrical equipment below street level.
LRC confirmed that the equipment belonged to Con Edison, according to the complaint, and determined that it was installed at least 51 years ago to service the mall and surrounding properties.
The developers say they found no records disclosing the vaults – such as an easement, deed restriction, title report or license – and Con Edison has not produced legal records showing it is entitled to operate equipment at that location.
The structures had to be removed, according to the complaint. Con Edison was feeding 13,000 volts of energy to the vaults, creating a dangerous situation. State-mandated remediation of contaminated soil was in jeopardy. An underground garage and entrance ramps could not be built according to plans approved by the city.
The developers demanded that Con Edison remove the equipment immediately but the utility company allegedly refused to do so unless it was paid $302,640.
LRC paid the sum on behalf of the developers, according to the complaint, and spent another $300,000 to demolish the vaults and remove the debris.
Now the developers are charging Con Edison with trespass for occupying the property without permission, breach of an implied license for refusing to bear the cost of removing the equipment, and unjust enrichment for threatening to halt the project if it were not paid.
The developers are represented by White Plains attorneys Alfred E. Donnellan and Nicholas M. Menasché.
