Despite a troubled market, National RE/sources Group of Greenwich, Conn., is busy building the next phase of its Hudson Harbor luxury housing development in Tarrytown, completing negotiations on a deal with Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. in Yonkers and further developing its ambitious i.park Edgewater in New Jersey.
The Business Journal spent some time with Joseph Cotter, founder and president of the National RE/sources Group, to discuss the company”™s plans as well as his thoughts on how Westchester”™s economy can improve.
Economic development advice
Cotter, who has been in real estate investment and development for more than 20 years and has successfully developed more than $1 billion of commercial and residential projects, believes communities that allow more density will prosper in the years to come.
In fact, he contends that allowing more density at some of the suburban office parks along I-287”™s Platinum Mile could bring new life to those properties.
“For better or for worse there hasn”™t been any new office buildings built in Westchester in over 30 years. Not only is the existing stock old and tired, but the planning ideas that went into the original master plans are also from a different era,” Cotter said.
“What we are seeing is that because there was such a focus on creating these corporate campuses and such an aversion to density or mixed-use, you really have in a lot of cases a very sterile office environment.”
He said old development concepts such as suburban office parks and suburban tract housing are being replaced with new ideas wrapped around sustainability and that a key factor in creating sustainable projects is “transportation-related density.”
“A lot of towns that have been big advocates of NIMBYism have really hurt themselves long-term and unless they recognize this they are going to have real issues. It wasn”™t really a problem when we had boom times, when ”¦ people weren”™t that focused on it; property values were rising and there was a bit of a euphoria,” he explained. “Now, we”™re in an era where everyone is focused on how towns, municipalities, counties and public entities, etc. can pay their bills and what services they have. Unless you have a growing tax base or something that promises economic growth the future looks bleak.”
He said the city of White Plains has been successful in creating mixed-use transportation-oriented developments, as has Yonkers and New Rochelle. “Even more interestingly, they are creating an environment to try to attract young people because in the end there is also a race for skills and the educated workforce.”
Appealing to a younger workforce
Cotter said communities, especially those seeking to attract bioscience or high-tech, “must provide a living environment that is fun, interesting and a place where some of the people that maybe don”™t have roots in the county will find attractive.”
By creating these vibrant communities, Westchester may return to its roots and be attractive for corporate headquarters, as was the case in the 1970s and 1980s. He added that Westchester and others must step up to the plate and provide further incentives if necessary to keep corporations from moving.
“In terms of I-287 and the Platinum Mile I think there is an urgent need for a revisit by planning and it is very simple, they just need to allow more mixed-use and more density,” Cotter said.
He explained that to reinvigorate some of the office parks on I-287, municipalities should allow some rental-workforce housing to be added as well as some retail use. Cotter also said some of the office buildings in these campuses should be improved or perhaps converted to another use.
“We have used up a hell of a lot of land to create not so much office space,” Cotter said. “Although there are some very idyllic parks, some of them just really are not attractive places for people to work at and they are certainly not interesting for a lot of the younger workforce that does not want to be isolated. They really want a more vibrant, interactive workplace.”
Cotter said that allowing more density and mixed-use does not have to take place at every office park along I-287, but “it would benefit the county to focus on certain key gateway properties that could allow for more density, more mixed-use.”
Work continues at i.park Hudson
Cotter revealed that although Kawasaki Rail Car has committed to stay at the i.park Hudson property in downtown Yonkers, National RE/sources is still in negotiations. State officials had reported that Kawasaki bought its 29 Wells Ave. building. Cotter said Kawasaki has decided the Yonkers property is “a mission-critical facility” and it wants to remain there long-term.
He added that although Kawasaki would prefer to buy the property, no deal with National RE/sources has been finalized.
ContraFect Corp., a company that is pioneering the use of monoclonal antibodies and lysins for the treatment of life-threatening infectious diseases, is occupying its space by the end of June. The company said last December it had signed a 15-year lease for 15,000 square feet with options for up to 60,000 square feet.
“They look like they are going to expand right away,” he said. “They expect to be up to 100 employees in the next six months so that is very exciting.”
He added that i.park Hudson tenant Aureon Biosciences has also been expanding at the former Otis Elevator complex. Yonkers has established Y Enterprise, an 8,000-square-foot business incubator on the sixth floor of 28 Wells Ave. property that Cotter said is attracting startups.
National RE/sources will begin construction later this year on a 300-space parking garage at i.park Hudson that will be paid for by the city, Westchester County and others. The company hopes to close on the deal later this month with the city. He estimated the project will cost $8 million to $10 million.
The company is also looking to build a mixed-use building at 1 Larkin Plaza, the former Herald Statesman property. “We are looking at a couple of different designs that may allow for more office and possibly some residential,” he said.
Other developments in the region
Cotter said his company is once again marketing i.park N-Valley, a 116,000-square-foot technology center at 470 Nepperhan Ave. He noted that a possible deal with Academic Medicine Development Co. to open a shared-use mouse research facility at the property is on the back burner due to funding issues.
The company is also building the second phase of its Hudson Harbor residential community adjacent to the Tarrytown railroad station that has been undergoing a $39-million renovation. Cotter said the company just recently began pre-sales and already has 10 of the 50 units sold.
The first phase, which consisted of 56 single-family houses and condominiums, is approximately 90 percent sold. Total build-out of the project on 24 acres will be some 250 units. Recently, retail stores have opened on site as well as a clubhouse.
Phase two will involve a five-story “sustainable” building (including ground-floor parking) under construction that will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom units that will all have Hudson River views. Residences will be priced from $499,000 to approximately $1.7 million.
“It is one of the first (residential) buildings that has been built and planned post financial crisis,” Cotter said.
The company is also developing the former Unilever Research Center in Edgewater, N.J., and recently completed building Edgewater Borough Hall and police station. Home Goods has signed on at the property and National RE/sources is planning to build about 500 residential units at the complex on the Hudson River shoreline.
The company has under construction approximately 100 units of rental housing and is also working on some retail properties. It is also converting a building on the property to for-sale condominiums.
Cotter said the company expects to spend $300 million to $400 million there in the next three to four years.
