Wilder Balter Partners proposes residential building on site of YMCA in Tarrytown
Wilder Balter Partners of Chappaqua has proposed developing a four-story, 109-unit building on the current site of the Family YMCA at Tarrytown.
The Tarrytown Planning Board has set a public hearing on the project for its March 23 meeting.
The YMCA”™s board of directors determined that the organization needed to take advantage of the equity it has in its real estate by putting the property up for sale, find a new location and use the proceeds to continue with its mission.
Records on file in the Westchester County Clerk”™s Office indicated that as of Feb. 26 the YMCA still owned the property. A planning board document showed that Wilder Balter Partners Inc. is the contract vendee for the property. Contract vendees often do not actually buy a property until they have received necessary municipal approvals to proceed with a project.
When presenting the proposal to the board, attorney Mark Weingarten of the White Plains law firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr LLP, said, “The project itself is to demolish the existing four-story building except for the façade on Main Street and a portion of the attached building. The new building will contain 109 dwelling units: 15 studios, 94 one-bedrooms.”
Weingarten said that funding from New York state”™s affordable housing agency, Homes and Community Renewal, would remain in place for 50 years and 80% of the building”™s occupants would be ages 55 and older.
“Rents will be 40% to 80% AMI (average median income), which is a very good mix of incomes and much needed in this community,” Weingarten said.
In addition to providing 118 below-ground parking spaces for residents, the building would incorporate an additional 70 spaces for public use in a parking level that lines up with the building”™s lobby fronting on Windle Park Drive, which is perpendicular to Main Street. Weingarten said that in discussions with storeowners, the need for more parking in the heart of the village was emphasized.
“When we met with the merchant associations, their number one concern was, ”˜Sure you”™re building parking for your development, but we really need parking,”™” William G. Balter, principal of Wilder Balter Partners, told the planning board. He said that the 118 parking spaces for resident use likely will be more than needed.
The actual vehicle counts at similar projects he had built showed that the number of spaces needed for a building such as the one in Tarrytown is 0.7 per residential unit. In addition to the likelihood of having unused spaces in the area set aside for residents, Balter proposed creating a 70-car parking lot at grade level in the building that would connect with one of the two existing municipal parking lots adjacent to the site.
“That works really well from not only creating the parking that the community really needs but also from a standpoint of creating a building that works for the residents,” Balter said.
Balter and Weingarten presented early renderings, elevations and overhead views of the project to the planning board. Balter told the Business Journal he expects the architectural plans will evolve as they work with the stakeholders and municipal boards.
The project”™s traffic engineer, John Canning of Kimley-Horn and Associates, said, “For as long as I”™ve lived in the area, there”™s never been enough parking in downtown so the 70 new spaces will significantly improve that condition.”
Canning said the development will help reduce traffic that had been created by evening activities at the YMCA by 70%.
Balter said the building is being designed to meet Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, the second highest level. He said there would be a rooftop solar system capable of generating 200,000 watts of electricity.
The property covers 1.12 acres and is zoned restricted retail on the Main Street side. The balance of the site is M-1.5, multifamily residential. The developer is asking for the restricted retail portion to be rezoned to multifamily residential and it also is asking the village to map the village”™s senior community floating overlay zone onto the site.
“I”™ve been doing this for 30 years. I”™ve really tried to do developments that solve a problem,” Balter said. “This is a development I”™ll be personally involved in a lot. It”™s a great use in a downtown; it solves a lot of problems and it creates a lot of opportunities.”