Revised plan for Digest campus
Developers of the former Reader”™s Digest Association campus in Chappaqua have proposed an alternative plan to keep more office space in use and build fewer housing units on the site.
The new plan was included in a three-volume environmental impact statement for the project recently submitted to town of New Castle officials. It was designed in response to concerns heard from town officials and residents during a two-year public review of the project, said Geoffrey Thompson, spokesman for the Summit-Greenfield development team.
Partners in the proposed Chappaqua Crossing project, Summit Development L.L.C., of Southport, Conn., and Greenfield Partners L.L.C., of South Norwalk, Conn., in 2004 bought the 116-acre landmark property from Reader”™s Digest for $59 million. The global publisher remained as a tenant, leasing about 290,000 square feet of space in the 690,000-square-foot office complex.
In 2009, the company as part of its bankruptcy reorganization announced plans to move its Westchester operations to offices in downtown White Plains and midtown Manhattan and end its 70-year-presence in Chappaqua. The relocation began in June and will continue through the summer.
Modifying its original proposal to the town, Summit/Greenfield has proposed to retain 662,000 square feet of office space for use by multiple tenants rather than 520,000 square feet. The additional space would be leased for low-impact use as data centers and companies”™ disaster recovery facilities.
The office plan will require a town zoning change to allow leasing by more than four tenants, the current limit for the site, and to eliminate a requirement that one tenant lease at least 200,000 square feet.
“The ability adaptively to re-use the building for multiple tenants is a crucially important factor in assuring that the largest single taxpaying property in the town and the school district can be fully utilized,” the developer said in a prepared statement.
Summit/Greenfield also proposed to reduce the number of housing units to be built on the campus from 278 to 199 units. The housing would include 179 market-rate units and 20 affordable units.
An age restriction requiring buyers of most homes in the development to be at least 55 and barring residents under 18 would be eliminated. New Castle officials have said the age restriction would be difficult to enforce, especially in subsequent sales by condo owners, and worried that enforcement duties would fall upon the town.
Summit/Greenfield also proposed to increase its donation of Chappaqua Crossing land to the town for municipal use from 2 acres to 6.5 acres. Approximately 45 percent of the property, more than 50 acres, would remain open space, while the architectural character of the original Reader”™s Digest building will be preserved.
New Castle Town Supervisor Barbara Gerrard could not be reached for comment on the alternative plan. In her July supervisor”™s report, she warned that without additional revenue to replace the Readers”™ Digest rent payments that end this year, Chappaqua Crossing”™s owners “would most likely be successful in challenging their real estate assessment” in court.
“So for anyone who believes ”˜nothing”™ should happen on the site, that ”˜nothing”™ results immediately in higher taxes for all of us,” Gerrard wrote. “No town or school district expenses would go down, but there would be significantly less tax revenue from the property, which automatically results in an increase for all of us.”
Thompson said Summit/Greenfield has challenged its property assessments in court with tax certiorari filings for 2008 and 2009, when Reader”™s Digest operated in Chappaqua in significantly reduced space.