After a year spent skating around a proposal to build a 140,000-square-foot ice rink at the Reckson Executive Park in Rye Brook, project developer Reckson L.L.C. has withdrawn its plans.
The Rye Brook village board, which was scheduled to review the developer”™s application on Nov. 12, received a letter from Reckson”™s attorney last week about the decision to withdraw its application.
In a one-paragraph letter to Rye Brook Mayor Paul S. Rosenberg, attorney William S. Null of White Plains-based Cuddy & Feder L.L.P. wrote, “We respectfully withdraw the pending application for amended site plan approval and special permit without prejudice to its resubmission.”
Reckson, a division of SL Green Realty Corp., decided to withdraw its project the day before the application deadline because the developer needed more time, Null said.
“The application process extended beyond the timing needed for the transaction and it was cancelled,” Null said. “Our client is continuing to explore other appropriate uses for the Reckson Executive Park.”
Reckson was supposed to submit information to determine whether an environmental impact statement was needed, said Chris Bradbury, Rye Brook village administrator.
“There were a series of issues such as traffic that they were supposed to do their due diligence on and we were expecting to get more information on that before taking the next step,” Bradbury said.
Reckson, the owner of the 79.5-acre property at 1100 King St., already received the village board”™s approval to build on the existing 280,000-square-foot business park space. But they don”™t have the approval to add a national hockey-size rink. When Reckson first proposed the idea of installing four 200-by-85-feet sheets of ice, bleachers seating 1,230 people, lockers and changing facilities and 1,052 parking spots, Rye Brook residents showed up in overflow numbers at village board meetings to oppose the project.
Residents complained that the ice rink, if approved, would increase traffic in an already densely-populated area bordering SUNY Purchase and the Doral Arrowwood resort.
After putting its project on ice, Reckson plans to explore alternative ideas for the adaptive reuse of its office park.
