Gateway II project in White Plains gets preliminary approval for $34.2M in tax breaks
The Westchester County Industrial Development Agency granted preliminary approval Thursday for $34.2 million in tax breaks for the proposed $275 million Gateway II project in White Plains.
The inducement resolution was approved by a 6-1 vote, with union representative Richard McSpedon Jr. dissenting over the developer”™s request for less stringent labor requirements.
Greystar Real Estate Partners and the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. want to build a 25-story tower intersected by a 16-story tower, on a parking lot at 25 N. Lexington Ave., across the street from the White Plains train station.
The structure would include 500 apartments, 19,000 square feet of ground floor retail space and parking for 755 cars.
Greystar plans to create a public promenade along Hamilton Avenue and a canopied walkway from the city”™s bus depot to the 1 N. Lexington office building.
The housing would include 15 subsidized apartments, and the developer would pay $3.8 million to the White Plains affordable housing fund to cover its obligation to provide another 25 affordable housing units.
The project would employ 600 construction workers, according to Greystar”™s application for financial assistance, and then 20 full-time employees.
Construction could begin in August and would be completed in three years.
Greystar asked for a $1,650,000 mortgage tax exemption, $5,360,000 sales and use tax exemption, and property tax abatement for 25 years that would be worth $27,183,162.
Without the tax breaks, the site will continue to be used as a parking lot, the application states, and create “a void in the urban fabric.”
The developer”™s attorney, Eon S. Nichols, told the board that Greystar recently submitted a letter to the IDA asking for relief from labor policies enacted by the IDA in February.
The letter had not been shared with the full board before Thursday’s meeting.
The policies require developers to hire 84% of their workers locally from the five-county lower Hudson Valley and the Bronx, participate in apprenticeship programs, and comply with other safety, workers compensation and payroll certification regulations.
Nichols said Greystar”™s construction manager is making its best effort to hire local workers and expects to hire 30 apprentices. But if the developer must adhere strictly to the labor policies, construction costs would increase by 20%.
McSpedon, a business representative for Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, was miffed that Greystar”™s letter had not been shared with board members. He wanted to see the data that supports the developer”™s position before voting. He noted that Greystar includes Albany County, two hours away, as part of the local pool of workers.
Greystar vice president Ryan Souls said the project construction manager has begun “outreach” with unions, but he is concerned about the availability of labor for such a big construction project.
Michael Curti, an attorney for the IDA, said the agency could “recapture” some of the foregone taxes if the developer does not follow through with its commitments.
IDA Chairwoman Joan McDonald recommended that the board induce the project and that the government and unions continue to work with the developer on hiring 85% of the workers locally.
“If it”™s not achieved,” she said, “we have the ability to claw back the benefit that has been granted.”
A public hearing on the proposed development will be held before the IDA votes on a final approval.