Irish partners end a quarter-century building drought in Larchmont
An Irish team of developers has begun construction of a luxury condominium building on a Larchmont site that was unloaded by another developer thwarted in its decade-old plan to build a rental apartment complex there.
The Cambium, a 149-unit, seven-story residence at 10 Byron Place, is rising on a 1.5-acre site that adjoins the Larchmont-Mamaroneck Maxwell Avenue recycling center and a New York Sports Club. The razed site formerly housed a lumber yard and three single-family homes.
John Myers, principal of Ceres Realty Group in Katonah, said the approximately $70 million project is the first multifamily development to be built in Larchmont since the 1980s. It is a short walk from the village”™s Metro-North Railroad station and near a cluster of condominium and co-op apartment buildings built as part of the village”™s master plan for residential development near the commuter train station.
“This is the final piece of that master plan,” said Myers, who has opened a Cambium sales gallery at 1921 Palmer Ave. in Larchmont. “Everything else is built over there.”
Myers”™ Ceres company is managing partner of the project development team, Byron Place Associates L.L.C. The partnership is headed by William Neville & Sons, a third-generation family-owned construction and real estate development company in Wexford, Ireland.
Started in the 1940s largely as a public-sector contracting business, the company in the late 1980s expanded into property development in Ireland and the United Kingdom and has built several multifamily and mixed-use projects. Its portfolio includes factories, hotels and office buildings.
“This is our second project in the States,” said Myers, a native of Ireland. The company last year sold the 40,000 square feet of office and retail space it owned in Manhattan at 225 Fifth Ave., a 12-story luxury condominium property near Madison Square Park.
Myers said proceeds from that Manhattan sale are financing the Larchmont construction. “At the moment, we”™re working with our own cash,” he said.
The Irish developer stepped in after the property”™s previous owner, Forest City Residential Group, based in Cleveland, Ohio, met strong public opposition to its plans to build a rental apartment complex. Town of Mamaroneck officials also favored owner-occupied units to rentals, Myers said.
Forest City in 2009 sold the Larchmont property to Byron Place Associates for $14 million. Forest City has focused its Westchester development plans on its proposed apartment and retail development at Echo Bay in the city of New Rochelle.
Myers said the Cambium will include three levels of underground parking. Prices for one-bedroom and two-bedroom units average $650 per square foot. Condos range in size from about 800 square feet to approximately 1,600 square feet.
The developer recently ended a 10 percent discount offer for preconstruction buyers.
The Cambium is expected to be ready for occupancy by early 2015 or possibly late 2014, he said.
“Since the construction started, there”™s been a big increase in activity” at the Cambium sales office, said Myers.
“The downsizers are sick and tired of mowing the grass and fixing the roof,” he said. Those prospective buyers have strong ties to Larchmont but don”™t want to stay in their single-family homes. “That”™s where we”™re seeing the strong interest.”
Cambium sales director Susie Joyce said the Palmer Avenue office is “getting a lot of people from Manhattan. The rents are so high and fairly many of these young couples can”™t afford to live in the city anymore.”
Myers said the Irish team plans to focus its development efforts in Westchester County.
“We”™re not doing anything else until we get this (Larchmont project) further along,” he said. “It looks like the city is becoming very competitive. We don”™t have much competition in Westchester.”
Though condominium development in Westchester came to a halt in the recession five years ago, Myers said the partners expect to see ample demand for their residences at 10 Byron Place.
“The housing market in Larchmont didn”™t suffer nearly as much as many other locations,” he said. “It”™s fairly strong. There”™s vitality in the market.”