Developer says occupancy restriction ‘counterproductive’
 
Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco by the end of this year plans to relocate some outpatient medical services to a 35,000-square-foot space at Chappaqua Crossing, the former Reader”™s Digest campus in the town of New Castle. The landmark property”™s developer hopes zoning laws won”™t continue to keep out more tenants there.
The hospital signed a long-term lease for the vacant space with Summit/Greenfield, the joint venture partnership of South Norwalk, Conn.-based Summit Development L.L.C. and Greenfield Partners L.L.C. that plans a 278-unit age-restricted housing development on the 114-acre campus. Summit/Greenfield will build out the first-floor space. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.
The hospital is preparing to build in Mount Kisco an expanded state-of-the art emergency department and a parking garage. The outpatient services will be moved to free up space in the existing building. Joel Seligman, president and CEO of Northern Westchester Hospital, said hospital officials studied a wide range of options and found Chappaqua Crossing “ideal” for off-site services. The office campus is within three miles of the hospital on Route 117.
Under an agreement with the town of New Castle and the property owners, a van pooling system already brings hospital staff to and from the campus to park their cars while construction is under way at the hospital.
Though nearly half of the building to be occupied by the hospital remains vacant, town zoning restrictions limit occupancy to four tenants, said Felix Charney, president of Summit Development. The hospital will be the fourth tenant, joining The Reader”™s Digest Association Inc., with 295,000 square feet of space, FiberMedia, with 35,000 square feet, and Mount Kisco Medical Group P.C., with 20,000 square feet.
Charney called the occupancy restriction “counterproductive” and said it has forced the partners to turn away prospective tenants at Chappaqua Crossing. “For the town to restrict the use of one of the few major commercial taxpaying properties in the town and the largest single taxpaying property in the Chappaqua School District is irrational,” he said. “We are very hopeful that the town will recognize the need to revise the zoning so that the existing building which until a few years ago had been fully occupied by Reader”™s Digest can once again be fully occupied.”