Changing Landscape: Another corporate park gives way to housing
A thriving office park that once bustled with workers, today is becoming the actual home to workers.
A 421-unit apartment complex in Harrison that had its groundbreaking in August 2017, now has its first units occupied. The luxury community is known as Carraway and is on a 10-acre site that had been dominated by office buildings at 103 and 105 Corporate Park Drive, which were demolished so construction could begin.
What was known as The Platinum Mile along Interstate 287 is slowly evolving from one once populated with shiny steel low-rise office buildings to low-rise buildings housing co-ops and apartments.
The complex is a short walk from the Wegmans food store and is directly across the street from a pediatric medical center that is being completed by Simone Healthcare Development for The Children”™s Hospital at Montefiore. Wegmans was built on land that held a clutch of office buildings as well. The pediatric hospital itself is a repurposed office building.
Next door on Westchester Park Drive, a Life Time Fitness complex replaced the huge building that housed the printing plant, sales and news offices of The Journal News.
Just down the street the building once filled primarily by the law office of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker was demolished with plans for apartments.
Across the interstate at 1133 Westchester Ave., a 303-unit apartment building will soon rise under the eye of developers NRP Group and Robert Weisz”™s organization.
More projects
On Corporate Park Drive, Carraway is the product of a joint venture between Toll Brothers Inc. and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Toll Brothers Apartment Living manages the property, including handling the marketing and leasing.
Bill Lovett, regional director of acquisition and development for Toll Brothers, told the Business Journal the company is considering doing more in Westchester like the Carraway project.
“We have had a few projects that have been reimagined office parks and we”™ve had some terrific success on those projects.” Lovett said.
“It”™s amazing to see the vision as it”™s coming to fruition particularly in Harrison with the Wegmans and the medical center and Life Time Fitness. It”™s a neighborhood that when we first started was an office park. It”™s been a complete transformation and we think an exciting use of the space.
“Walkability is a terrific amenity. We pride ourselves on the amenities we have in our buildings ”¦ (as well as) the neighborhoods and the conveniences, Wegmans is certainly a terrific one, are all critical components as we look at projects across the country.”
Lovett said that the company treats each project independently.
“We are very cognizant of the community that we”™re going to be serving and we design our projects regardless of where they are to be the most beneficial to the neighborhood,” Lovett said.
“We want the prospective resident to have an elevated experience and that begins as you approach the front door of the community. We want to make sure that we are designing and executing a project that pays attention to all of the details. We”™re excited to be in Harrison.”
Extra features
Carraway has 22 studio apartments, 217 one-bedroom units and 182 two-bedroom units. Amenities include a fitness center, a children”™s playroom, workspaces that can be used as private offices or coworking space, a spacious lobby with seating, a resident clubroom in the form of a two-story library with large fireplace, a private dining room with temperature-controlled wine storage lockers, a pool with deck and cabanas, a crafts room and more.
The kitchens feature stainless steel appliances and quartz counter tops. Some 952-square-foot one-bedroom units are listed at $2,700 to $2,847 a month while some 1,245-square-foot two-bedroom two-bath units are listed at $3,523 to $3,666.
Ten percent of the units in the complex were set aside as affordable housing with prices starting at $1,165 a month for studio.
Lovett said that although the pandemic brought about supply shortages, the impact at the Carraway construction site was minimal.
“Fortunately we were very well scheduled and managed throughout the process so we didn”™t feel any substantive impacts from the pandemic on the production of Carraway,” Lovett said. “It”™s terrifically exciting to be having people moving in and being able to enjoy the project.”
Lovett said construction crews having to adapt to new safety protocols didn”™t interfere with the workmanship that went into providing the high-end finishes throughout the complex.