Stymied by town officials and stuck with largely vacant office space, developers of the former Reader”™s Digest Association headquarters are poised to ask a state court to lift zoning restrictions that have barred commercial redevelopment of their Chappaqua Crossing property.
Attorney John S. Marwell, in a Dec. 29 letter to town of New Castle officials, said the Connecticut-based developers, Summit Development L.L.C. and Greenfield Partners L.L.C., also will seek damages from the town of New Castle for failing to change zoning that limits occupancy at Chappaqua Crossing to four commercial tenants and requires an anchor tenant to lease at least 200,000 square feet.
Marwell noted the property violates the latter space requirement since Reader”™s Digest on Dec. 10 completed its relocation from its landmark 70-year-old headquarters and 114-acre campus. About 80 percent of the property”™s office space is vacant.
Marwell said prospective tenants have backed away from leasing space there because of the zoning violation. Development partners worry too that Chappaqua Crossing”™s three current tenants “may become concerned about the viability of their continued tenancies,” he said in the letter.
The attorney advised town officials his client will seek a “very substantial” reduction in the property”™s assessed value. Summit Greenfield”™s attorneys already have filed tax certiorari claims in court for approximately $1.56 million in tax refunds and approximately $12.6 million in reduced property assessments for 2008 and 2009 and plan to seek a tax refund of $810,000 for 2010.
The letter to New Castle officials followed by a few weeks a sternly worded letter by Marwell and attorney Steven L. Kass in which they expressed their client”™s frustration at the town”™s “glacial pace” in approving the owner”™s proposal to redevelop the property commercially and for multifamily residential use.
The town board”™s environmental review of the Chappaqua Crossing project began about three years ago. The board in late November raised new concerns about the project that the developer”™s attorneys suggested was a stalling “game” by town officials to placate residents opposed to the redevelopment.
Marwell and Kass demanded the board take action to move the project forward by the end of first quarter of this year.
