The Dobbs Ferry Board of Trustees has approved the site plan for Rivertowns Square, a mixed-use development of 202 luxury rental units and a retail shopping center anchored by a movie theater complex on 18 acres in the village.
The $150 million project adjoins Chauncey Square Shopping Center, near the intersection of Lawrence Street and the Saw Mill River Parkway.
The board narrowly approved the site plan by a 4-3 vote Tuesday night. Trustees by the same majority in January approved the project”™s environmental impact statement. The Rivertowns Square development has drawn organized opposition from residents in the community.
“The primary approvals are behind us,” said Corey Rabin, managing member of the developer, Dobbs Ferry Capital Partners L.L.C. His partner in the project is Martin Berger, principal of Armonk-based Saber Dobbs Ferry L.L.C. and Saber Real Estate Advisors. Weston, Mass.-based Lincoln Property Co. is the residential developer.
Rabin said shovels could be in the ground by the end of this year, with occupancy by late 2014.
The trustees acted on three resolutions germane to the project. Besides the site plan approval, they also approved a land swap with the developer to facilitate traffic flow and to accept a promise from the developer not to seek reductions in real estate taxes.
Rabin said the partners still need project approvals from the village architectural review board and from the state Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). “I don”™t foresee anything that we cannot deal with,” he said. “We will comply with the agencies and provide whatever they require.”
Rabin said DOT seeks traffic flow adjustments and DEC wants details on stormwater runoff. The village architectural review focuses on style, structure and color, he said.
After the trustees accepted the environmental findings of the village planning board in January, they referred the project back to the planning board for adjustments and public input. The planning board subsequently held 12 meetings on the issues and changes were made, which the Board of Trustees approved with its June 25 vote.
The most obvious change will be the addition of a village square in front of the eight-screen, 1,350-seat Sundance Cinemas L.L.C. movie theater. The cinema complex, the first East Coast venture for the Los Angeles-based company, will anchor approximately 115,000 square feet of commercial space.
Rabin said the project forfeited parking slots to create the public space, which he said will be “a place for a farmers market and for holiday gatherings.”
A Mrs. Green”™s market will occupy some 18,000 square feet of space. The grocery store space was scaled back from 70,000 square feet as initially proposed. The Irvington-based owner of the Mrs. Green”™s chain operates 11 stores in the region.
The Rivertowns Square property formerly was the office and laboratory complex of Akzo Nobel Chemical Co., which closed its Dobbs Ferry operation in 1996. Food Emporium leased office space there until 2005. The complex, which includes 200,000 square feet of floor space in three buildings, has sat vacant for about eight years.
The project now includes about 61,300 square feet of retail and restaurant space in six buildings, a 123-room hotel and 1,222 parking spaces. The developer eliminated 24 residences earlier in the review process.
The site plan approval followed about three year of planning and investment by the developer. “It”™s not a fast process, but it”™s not intended to be a fast process,” Rabin said. “The community has been very involved and Mayor (Hartley) Connett has made sure of the inclusiveness.”
Note: This story was updated and a photo added on June 27. The original article was published online June 26.
The only conclusion one can come to is the mayor and some trustees take bribes and are crooks. This project only fits their wallets. At that vote one board member stood up and screamed that they still did not get the information they requested – the mayor ignored him and all the residents that are against this. It is a show of power to steal money. When 10 residents protested stop and shop the mayor had their backs. Probably because stop and shop does not bribe. Corrupt corrupt corrupt. Ruining 4 towns and when one sues the arrogant mayor bashes them.