With rehab begun at 50 Main St. in White Plains, Ginsburg makes push for pedestrian friendly city

Developer Martin Ginsburg on Jan. 28 hosted the grand opening of the newly renovated amenity mezzanine in the office building at 50 Main St. in White Plains and provided a preview of some other efforts he”™s making to transform the Westchester Financial Center into the rebranded City Square.

There are three buildings on the 3.9-acre site. Office buildings are at 50 Main St. and 1-11 Martine Ave. and an apartment building is at 34 S. Lexington Ave. There is a 1,033-space parking garage beneath the buildings. There are a few stores slightly above street level at the corner of Main Street and South Lexington Avenue.

50 Main Street Ginsburg — A rendering of the lobby.

The refurbished mezzanine features a cafeteria, fitness center, lounge with billiards, private dining and meeting rooms and a collection of art by about a dozen local and regional artists. The art collection is curated by ArtsWestchester, which also is working with Ginsburg to select a new sculpture to be placed at the building”™s main entrance. An international competition coordinated by Ginsburg Development Cos. and ArtsWestchester sought proposals from a host of artists and narrowed down the possibilities to three finalists.

Last July, the White Plains Common Council approved Ginsburg”™s plans for City Square. The building at 34 S. Lexington Ave. already has 124 residential units and 2,102 square feet of retail space. A new 4,471-square-foot retail/restaurant building would be constructed at South Lexington and Martine avenues.

The plans called for 203,438 square feet of the building at 1-11 Martine Ave. to be converted into 188 luxury rental apartments on floors 2 through 11. Approximately 60,000 square feet would remain as office space on floors 12 through 15, with a separate dedicated office lobby and elevator bank to be provided.

Guests at the preview were shown renderings of what the 50 Main St. lobby would look like after it has been refurbished.

“When people walk into 50 Main Street, we want them to feel the energy and vibe of a boutique hotel where the lobby will be activated as yet another common gathering space within the building,” Ginsburg said.

White Plains Mayor Tom Roach told the gathering that what Ginsburg plans to create with City Square will contribute to solving the problem of pedestrian unfriendliness of the downtown”™s physical characteristics, which Roach traced back to the city”™s urban renewal in the 1970s and ’80s.

“The walk that you have from the train station to Mamaroneck Avenue, and I often talk about it, it”™s only three blocks but it seems like three miles and it”™s not because its unsafe or unclean; it”™s because it”™s boring and sterile,” Roach said.

“They leveled everything in the city from Court Street, which is up by Macy”™s, all the way to the train station basically other than Mount Carmel Church. The church has stayed, but its amazing to see what happened. They replaced what was there with glass and steel buildings that had no connectivity to the street. At the time the thinking was people don”™t want to get out of their cars. They”™re going to drive into their garage, work, eat lunch in the cafeteria, get into their cars and drive 40 minutes back to wherever they live. But, of course, the world has shifted. People do want to walk.”

A new pathway leads to the courtyard. Photo by Peter Katz

Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester, praised Ginsburg”™s plans by pointing out, “One of the top priorities and one of the top challenges to business today is to recruit top talent and part of recruiting top talent is to have a great place to work with all the amenities, everything there, that is sustainable, that is beautiful … and that is close to transportation and close to other amenities.”

Janet Langsam, CEO of ArtsWestchester, noted that art will be on display at the Metro-North Railroad station when its renovation project is completed.

“The vision I think with Mayor Roach and Martin Ginsburg and others down the line working their way up toward ArtsWestchester (located on Mamaroneck Avenue) is for an art walk, a path, a way to enjoy coming to White Plains starting with the train station.”

“We recognize this is a gateway to White Plains,” Ginsburg said. “The concept of making White Plains pedestrian friendly starts right here. And one of the first things I said we”™re going to do is we”™re going to close the garage entrance on Main Street and make Main Street pedestrian friendly. And then we”™re talking about adding restaurants so they have outdoor dining on Main Street from Bank Street and then going all the way up to Lexington. That”™s all going to be accessible retail, restaurants, outdoor dining.”

Ginsburg pointed out that the property that covers an entire city block includes a 1-acre central courtyard which, he said, has been underutilized.

“It”™s still not quite finished, but when it”™s finished it”™s going to be a major attraction for all the offices and residents that are going to be living here and we”™re also going to work with the city and have a couple of events.” He said that could include entertainment.