The battle over the sales office
The Yorktown Town Board is divided over what to do with a $3 million, 8,000-square-foot building in Shrub Oak.
The building has served as the sales office for Trump Park Residences, an $80 million, 141-unit active adult community off Barger Street, owned by Cappelli Enterprises Inc.
According to a written agreement, once 50 percent of the residential units were sold, the building was to be razed and replaced with a gazebo and a walking track. Even though half of the units remain unsold, a Cappelli spokesman said they no longer need a sales office.
Some town officials, including Supervisor Michael Grace would like the structure to remain and be used for town purposes, like an office for the Parks and Recreation Department.
“The town has some needs for a building like that in the northern end of town,” Grace said. “A building like that could hold administrative offices and allow for us to run community programs.”
At a work session, some residents were resistant to the idea, worried about what the town would do with the land, but Grace said it would simply be used as an office.
While there is no set value for the building, estimates by Grace and Cappelli Enterprises have it between $2 million and $3 million.
Councilman Nick Bianco and the Yorktown Land Trust would prefer the building be razed and left as open space per the agreement made during the approval portion of the project.
“I don”™t believe in reneging on agreements,” Bianco said. “How do we benefit from this? This belongs to the land trust.”
Councilman Dave Paganelli agrees with Bianco, while Councilman Terrence Murphy sides with Grace. Vishnu Patel could not be reached for comment.
“Our motto is progress with preservation,” Murphy said. “I have no problem with preservation, but we have already preserved 3,000 acres of open space. You have a building on that piece of land, why would you want to wreck it just to have grass grow?”
John Schroeder, president of the Yorktown Land Trust, negotiated the easement along with the Westchester Land Trust. He said that preserving 40 acres was the trade-off for Cappelli being able to put in several amenities and that the building would be taken down.
“Buildings are not supposed to be there,” Schroeder said. “Our position is that the building has to come down or be moved.”
A recreation easement approved by the town that sets aside five to 10 acres of the property to be used as a walking trail, paid for by Cappelli, also states that buildings should not be on the site.
“As far as we are concerned, Yorktown has an obligation to enforce the conditions of a recreation easement,” Schroeder said. “The building must be removed from the site.”
Joseph Apicella, executive vice president of Cappelli Enterprises, said his company is interested in donating the building to the town rather than knocking it down in favor of open space.
“There”™s plenty of grass,” Apicella said. “We”™ve already set aside 40 acres. People can run to their hearts content. We”™re not looking to make a profit; we want to do something good for a community that”™s been very good to us. Why would we knock the building down?”
Cappelli Enterprises has taken a big hit on the residential complex since it opened in 2007. More than half of the units remain unsold, and the units that have been sold are selling at only 70 to 75 percent of what Cappelli Enterprises was originally asking. Initial asking prices for the one, two and three-bedroom homes ranged from the mid-$500,000s to $1.2 million. Apicella said they are now asking $250 to $300 per square foot.
Apicella blames the recession for the sluggish sales.
“It is still a struggle,” Apicella said. “It”™s a beautiful spectacular property with an unbelievable amount of amenities. You name it, we have it there. The economy has just sucked the life out of the project.”
While Grace and Apicella tout the value of the building, Schroeder maintains that an agreement is an agreement.
“Whether the building is worth $3 million or $3,000, there cannot be a building there,” Schroeder said. “Our situation and our mission are very clear on this.”