New Rochelle”™s Commissioner of Development, Luiz Aragon, who has been recognized as being instrumental in bringing extensive development to the city, is retiring at the end of the year.
The announcement came from Charles B. Strome III, New Rochelle”™s city manager. Aragon will remain as a consultant for the city until there is a successor.
New Rochelle is beginning what is described as an extensive recruitment process to find a replacement for Aragon that likely will extend into early next year and is to be headed by Kathleen Gill, the city”™s chief of staff and corporation counsel.
Aragon is credited with helping turn the city”™s downtown into a center for transit-oriented development including 32 new projects that encompass 12 million square feet.
He began working for New Rochelle in 2013 after serving as the planning and environmental management commissioner for Sullivan County. Previously he had been with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York City Department of Transportation.
New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson said, “Luiz has been an extraordinary asset for our city, who has brought exceptional creativity and drive to his duties. More than any other single individual, he deserves credit for the dramatic transformation underway in our downtown and for a variety of other positive changes. He leaves an impressive legacy that will shape New Rochelle for the better for many years to come.”
Aragon said, “Working for the city of New Rochelle and overseeing our remarkable downtown redevelopment has been the highlight and honor of my professional career.”
Scott Reichler, chairman and CEO of RXR Realty, which is the master developer for New Rochelle”™s downtown, said of Aragon, “From revitalizing New Rochelle”™s downtown to helping New Rochelle”™s residents recover from the global pandemic, we are grateful for his leadership and his partnership and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
The Business Journal reported in May that one of Aragon”™s keys to success in attracting development to New Rochelle has been in providing guidance early-on in the submission process so developers will know what would likely receive approval with a minimum of delay.
“What we have to offer is certainty. I can guarantee a developer that if they come to New Rochelle with a project that fits the parameters that we”™ve set, they will get site plan approval not in six months, not in 10 years, but in 90 days,” the Journal quoted Aragon as saying.
“Actually, our average has been 60 days from submission to approval. Actually, the taller the building, the faster it goes.”
