The Westchester Industrial Development Agency gave preliminary approval this morning for nearly $6.6 million in public subsidies for a proposed $134 million apartment complex in Harrison near where Wegmans is under construction.
Marcus Partners Inc. of Boston and Trammell Crow Residential Co. of Dallas want to demolish a vacant office building at 3 Westchester Park Drive and build two structures with 450 rental apartments.
The project would be another element in the transformation of the so-called teardrop area ”“ between Hutchinson River Parkway and Interstates 287 and 684 ”“ from obsolete office parks to residential, recreational, retail and medical facilities.
A Life Time Fitness gym was built on the hill above the project site. Wegmans Food Markets Inc. is building a grocery store on Corporate Park Drive behind the site, next to Toll Brothers Inc.”™s 421-unit apartment project and near Montefiore Medical Center”™s pediatric outpatient center project.
The Marcus/Trammel joint venture is working with a 10.6-acre parcel that Marcus bought last year for nearly $11 million. The developers would replace the 160,000-square-foot office building with 550,000 square feet of residential space, including two parking garages and four retail spaces.
The project would feature a lot of green space, including a walking path and gardens, as well as a fitness center and other amenities.
A road would bisect the apartment buildings and connect to the Toll Brothers apartments and Wegmans.
The builders hope to attract working professionals and empty nesters. Twenty-three of the apartments would be rented at below-market rates to tenants whose income is no more than 80% of the area median income ($67,350 for one person and $95,250 for a household of four).
The blended average rent for the market rate apartments would be about $3,000, beginning at less than $2,000 for a studio.
The project would create an estimated 150 construction jobs and then eight positions when the buildings open.
The public subsidies include $5.4 million in sales tax exemption and nearly $1.2 million mortgage tax exemption.
Final approval for the subsidies could be granted early next year, after a public hearing. The developers want to demolish the office building early next year and break ground by mid-summer. The apartments could open by the first or second quarter of 2022.
What’s the justification for this or is it just to make it look like they’re doing something?
But the reality is, tax abated projects like this make it more expensive for everyone else.