The $150 million Rivertowns Square mixed-use development is back on track in Dobbs Ferry after development partners resolved what one called “internal issues.”
Those issues led developers in late July to ask village officials to suspend their state-required review of the project”™s final environmental impact statement. Dobbs Ferry Mayor Hartley Connett on Aug. 9 announced that village consultants were resuming their review of the developer”™s lengthy document before the village Board of Trustees accepts it as complete and publicly releases it for comments from the community.
The residential and retail project would be built on the former Akzo Nobel Chemicals Inc. office campus that adjoins Chauncey Square Shopping Center off of the Saw Mill River Parkway and Lawrence Street. Los Angeles-based Sundance Cinemas L.L.C. in March announced plans to open an eight-theater, 32,000-square-foot complex at Rivertowns Square, the company”™s first East Coast venture.
Corey Rabin, a White Plains attorney and managing partner of Dobbs Ferry Capital Partners L.L.C., which two years ago acquired the proposed site from Akzo Nobel for approximately $5.1 million, in a prepared statement said the partners will make several modifications and changes to the proposed building uses in the environmental impact statement to “improve the green space and reduce the impact of traffic on local streets.” Traffic congestion has been a major concern of local critics of the project.
Rabin, who is also a partner in Saber Chauncey, developer of the project”™s retail component, said plans still include a hotel and a luxury rental residence. Martin G. Berger, managing principal of Saber Real Estate Advisors in Armonk and a partner in Saber Chauncey, previously said Lincoln Property Co. of Boston would develop a 200-unit residence and that Hilton Hotels and Resorts is expected to acquire a Rivertowns Square parcel as the site of a 123-room extended stay hotel.
Rabin said the developers”™ goal is to make Rivertowns Square “a top-quality, arts-based destination” that will be “fully integrated within the fabric of the community.”
Rabin through a spokesman said the decision to suspend the village”™s project review “was to provide time to resolve internal issues.” He did not elaborate.
