Ivy PC Master Fund, LLC, which owns properties at 20-28 N. Main Street in Port Chester is proposing to redevelop the site with a six-story apartment building and pay a fee to Port Chester rather than providing parking spaces.
The proposed site consists of four tax lots with a total lot area of 0.135-acre at 20-28 N. Main St., at the western side of North Main Street and eastern side of King Street between Westchester Avenue and Adee Street.
Attorney Anthony B. Gioffre III of the White Plains-based law firm Cuddy & Feder told Port Chester’s Planning Commission that the build would require 49 parking spaces but the village allows developers of sites having less than 12,000 square feet to make a payment in lieu of providing on-site parking. Gioffre noted that the fee is $30,000 for each space and he said that the developer of the project would like to make payment for all of the required spaces.
“The site is too small to provide parking on site,” Gioffre said. “If we did that you would have to provide access either from North Main or from King Street that would basically kill that entire streetscape. We are looking to buy down 100% in this particular instance. We did not take that lightly. We know that you have raised concerns and issues but we felt in this instance, as well as what we’ve heard in other applications, that the activation of commercial space was more important.”
The building is proposed to contain 40 residential units consisting of 32 studio apartments and eight one-bedroom units. There would be 1,830 square feet of commercial space on the North Main Street side of the building. Four of the apartments would be offered as affordable housing, priced for people earning 60% of the Area Median Income.
The development plan includes amenity spaces consisting of a gym and business center along the King Street frontage. The residential lobby would be accessed from both North Main Street and King Street. The plan would maintain an existing on-street loading space on North Main Street for commercial and residential loading operations. An enclosed trash, mechanical, and electric room would be located along the King Street frontage.
“The proposal provides quality housing opportunities at affordable prices, creates a vibrant downtown, maintains the village’s residential neighborhoods, and encourages a balanced range of housing types and densities in the village,” Gioffre said. He said that calculations indicated that the development would result in adding only one child to the Port Chester schools.
Gioffre said that the proposed transit-oriented development would support “the reactivation of the streetscape through the introduction of activated commercial spaces and pedestrian improvements along North Main Street and King Street.”
Port Chester’s Planning Director Curt Lavalla said that he considers it a very interesting project in part because it fronts both on North Main and King Streets. He also said that he understands the developer having elected not to provide onsite parking and reaffirmed that the funds paid by the developer would go into a dedicated fund toward structural parking to support existing and future parking needs.
“I wish that the architect would be given a freer hand in the design,” Lavalla said. “Even at 40 units or so I still think this is deserving of a somewhat handsome entrance. Even (in) some of our older apartment buildings in different parts of the village you can see that the entrance was fairly prominent, fairly dignified.”
Lavalla called for more details about flooding in the area and the proposed building’s handling of stormwater.
The Planning Commission voted to declare its intent to act as lead agency for the environmental review of the project.
