A contested proposal to build an estimated $7 million sports complex on the grounds of a former nursery was backed by the Greenburgh Town Board Monday night when it unanimously approved a 15-year lease for the developer.
Greenburgh voters, though, could halt the forward progress of the Westchester Field House development at the polls this fall. The town board next week is expected to refer the town”™s lease agreement with Tarrytown-based Game On 365 L.L.C. to voters as a ballot item in the Nov. 6 election.
The developer plans to build a 94,000-square-foot air dome, 15,000-square-foot clubhouse and outdoor playing fields on the vacated site of the former Frank”™s Nursery on Dobbs Ferry Road, which the town acquired in a foreclosure proceeding. Game On”™s annual lease payments will start at $260,000, including about $50,000 in lieu of property taxes, and will increase annually. Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner has estimated the lease deal will bring the town about $5 million in revenue.
The sports-bubble project has been opposed by some town residents and by partners in Elm Street Sports Group L.L.C., the developer of House of Sports, an 85,000-square-foot facility due to open by September in Ardsley. An attorney for House of Sports claimed the 15-year lease would result in a net loss of about $737,000 to the town.
House of Sports CEO Donald Scherer in May called the town”™s transaction with his company”™s potential competitor, Game On 365, “a backroom deal” that gave the Westchester Field House developer “an unfair economic advantage” over his company.
Feiner after the Monday night vote said Game On 365 principals want to immediately start soil testing at the contaminated nursery site to determine the environmental cleanup that will be needed. Feiner said he supported immediate testing ahead of the outcome of the voter referendum in November.
I hope this gets build! It would be a great asset to all Greenburgh residents, and especially the kids and adults involved actively in field sports!