A warehouse project in the Rockland County community of Montebello appears to be moving ahead with the sale of two pieces of land. The parcels are at 100 and 300 Rella Boulevard in Montebello and were sold to the entity Rella Owner LLC,, which has an address in Montvale, New Jersey. The two parcels were sold for $6.73 million by the entity Rella Partners LLC, according to Rand Commercial’s New City office, which was the sole broker for the transaction. The properties are located at the northeast corner of the Rella Boulevard and Airmont Road intersection.
The project’s developer ACG Acquisitions LLC of Montvale sought financial incentives from Rockland County’s Industrial Development Agency (IDA). The project included construction of a 199,000-square-foot warehouse with 6,000 square feet of accessory office space on the lower level. It also included a second building, which was described as a four-story self-storage facility with a basement. The project with an estimated cost of $89,032,900 was expected to create 150 full-time and 50 part-time jobs. The IDA was told that the new building construction for the project would total 325,800 square feet. The developer told the IDA that it estimated the project would be ready for occupancy on July 1, 2025.
The IDA authorized an exemption from mortgage recording taxes of $607,650 and up to $1,842,500 in sales tax exemptions.
ACG Acquisitions LLC of Montvale had applied to the village of Montebello for an amendment to the special permit that had been granted in April of last year. The IDA also agreed to a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) with respect to real estate taxes.
Attorney Michael Klein of the Suffern-based law firm Hartmann Doherty Rosa Berman & Bubulia LLC told the Montvale Planning Board that with the request to amend the approvals his client was not seeking any physical changes to the project.
“We are here instead to request a change to the Special Permit conditions, specifically the weekday hours of operation,” Klein said. He said that his client was advised by their marketing team that it had become very difficult to market the warehouse due to the restrictive weekday hours of operation of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Klein said that when they first applied for project approvals they had asked for the okay to operate around-the-clock and after having worked with the village to reduce the operating hours they were now asking for a slight expansion to 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. , Monday through Friday. Klein said that they hoped that by expanding the hours they would make the project viable.
Klein said that supplemental noise and traffic reports indicated that the increase will not have any significant impacts. He pointed out that the developer plans to have an extensive sound barrier to shield neighboring residences from noise and that the entrance diverts trucks away from the assisted living facility The Sentinel.
Planning Board Chairman Anthony Caridi said that he was wary of the applicant’s request now for expanded operating hours because it opened the door for similar requests in the future. Klein said his client had no wish or inclination to return with additional operating hours requests.
Klein said that he wanted the board to know that this new application for expanded operating hours was not frivolous and was necessary because they were not able to find a tenant due to the restrictions and such restrictions usually were not placed on buildings of this size used for warehousing and distribution. He emphasized that the small change will make a big difference in the viability of the project.
ACG had asked that the matter be taken up again at the Montebello Planning Board’s Jan. 9 meeting, but that meeting was canceled. The board is scheduled to meet again on Feb. 13.
