The Mount Kisco Planning Board has taken another step in its review of a proposal from a former village trustee to construct an apartment building next to the now-closed Mt. Kisco Theatre on Main Street.
The 8,375-square-foot movie theater at 144 E. Main St. is now listed for lease. Bow Tie Cinemas closed it in March 2019 due to Covid-19. It has about 600 seats and was divided over the years to have five movie screens.
The proposed apartment site is at 134 E. Main St., on a 12,960-square-foot lot. The rear of the proposed apartment building would face the Blackeby Place parking lot. The new building would be set behind a one-story retail structure on Main Street that is occupied by AT&T and Frannie”™s Goodie Shop.
The proposed structure would have 16 apartments and would be accessed using a vestibule on the ground level just off a wide passageway running from Main Street alongside of the theater to the parking lot area. There would be three residential floors built over a 16-space parking lot for residents”™ vehicles. Terraces for apartments would extend slightly into the airspace of the retail building.
The property owner and developer is Isi Albanese, who is a restaurant consultant and managing partner of Exit 4 Food Hall in Mount Kisco at 153 E. Main St. that features nine different food stations. Albanese served on the Mount Kisco Board of Trustees from December 2017 to December 2019.
The village”™s Planning Board has decided to act as lead agency for the environmental review of Albanese”™s proposed apartment building.
Albanese”™s property is in the CB-2 Zoning District, within a “form-based” Downtown Overlay District (DOD) that offers flexible development criteria intended to encourage mixed-use development and redevelopment.
Albanese proposed that 750 square feet of his property next to the paved walkway could be developed as public space in combination with village-owned property to stimulate activity in the area. He expressed a hope that the movie theater would reopen as some sort of entertainment facility.
Architect Gregg DeAngelis of Envirospace Architecture told the planning board that the proposed building”™s green roof would be equipped with solar panels to generate electricity while also offering residents recreational space to “look out over Main Street and the Blackeby lot.”
He said that the project fits nicely into the overlay district.
“It”™s walking distance to the train station, right in town and there”™s a lot of excitement and activity around this,” DeAngelis said.
Planning Board Chairman John Bainlardi said, “At this point there”™s nothing objectionable that”™s jumping off the page at me,” a sentiment that was echoed by Board Member William Polese.
Planning Board Member Ralph Vigliotti questioned why the apartment building was being constructed behind the retail structure and not on top of it. Albanese explained, “If you”™re building on top, the structure that”™s there now is not going to hold a three-story building, so we would have to close down AT&T, close down Frannie”™s.”
Vigliotti also expressed concern that the area between Main Street and Blackeby could become so popular that all of the activity left no room for people to walk along the passageway.
“The plans I saw look terrific but I just want to make sure that umbrellas and tables and chairs and benches don”™t get in the way of people trying to use that as a walkway and that it”™s wide enough to accommodate as a travel lane,” Vigliotti said.
Bainlardi noted that the developer was planning to meet with village staff to go over the plans and resolve issues related to items such as setbacks, parking requirements and ADA compliance for public rights-of-way.
Westchester County”™s planning board found that the proposal is generally consistent with the county”™s long-range planning policies and “will add to the range of housing types available in a downtown area that is walkable to businesses, services and public transit.”
It encouraged Mount Kisco to work with the applicant to try to bring as many affordable units into the project as possible. The county also suggested adding a bicycle parking area for residents.
