RXR Realty has reached an agreement through a related entity to buy the first phase of the proposed Hamilton Green mixed-use project in White Plains.
Attorney Mark Weingarten of the White Plains law firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr LLP said construction could begin next year.
Weingarten is representing developers WP Mall Realty LLC, Hamilton Green I Partners LLC and SWDWP LLC, which are asking for amendments to the conceptual development plan and site plan for the transit-oriented development proposed for 200 Hamilton Ave., now the site of the White Plains Mall.
“We’re here before you today to talk about the new project with some slight changes that we’d like to have approved so we can get this built and in the ground,” Weingarten told the Common Council during a work session at White Plains City Hall Monday evening.
“In order to facilitate the financing and construction of this project, the property received approval for the creation of a commercial condominium, which enables the project to be financed and built in two phases,” Weingarten said. “Phase one will be constructed on condominium unit one, roughly half the site … on the Cottage Place side, which is currently owned by WP Realty LLC. You know them. They’re the landlord that you dealt with previously.
“They have reached an agreement to sell unit one to Hamilton Green Partners LLC,” he continued. “More importantly, the managing member and controlling member of the purchaser of unit one and the developer of the site will be RX Hamilton Investor LLC, a related entity of RXR Realty.”
In September 2018, the Common Council approved the conceptual development plan for the project and on April 6, 2020, site plan approval was granted, which is valid until Oct. 6. The developers are asking for an extension.
The currently approved Hamilton Green project incorporates 860 apartments in four buildings ranging in height from 150 to 280 feet, approximately 85,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 27,000 square feet of office space, approximately 55,000 square feet of open space that will be accessible by the public and 956 parking spaces.
In 2019, the project was valued at $585.2 million.
“RXR and its professionals have completed a comprehensive review of the project and they are now requesting some minor changes to the plan but all of the major elements of the original approved plan remain intact,” Weingarten said.
He explained that phase one will consist of 470 luxury residential apartments in two high-rise buildings plus a 30,000-square-foot marketplace surrounding a 45,000-square-foot public open space. There would be 56 affordable apartments provided in phase one and the city would receive $2.2 million as a buyout for affordable units not provided.
“All of the parking, loading and utilities for the entire project will be built as part of phase one, as will the public plaza,” Weingarten said. “If the only thing that was built was phase one you will have a finished project with the two towers there and the full public green and all of the parking and all of the utilities there, but we will be doing phase two. We’ll talk about that at a later date.”
Weingarten identified the most significant changes from the currently approved plans as including the elimination of a four-story parking structure and moving the parking below grade. He said the loading area would be reconfigured for better entering and exiting and both the public open space and a private open space for residents are to be larger.
He said that the office component of 27,000 square feet has been eliminated.
Weingarten said that the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) remains in the White Plains Mall on a month-to-month lease and would be vacating the premises when asked to do so, allowing the mall to be demolished and the new construction to begin. The DMV planned to move into The Source at Bloomingdale Road and Maple Ave.
“They’re waiting for, among other things, us to say, ‘It’s time to go,’” Weingarten said. “As soon as we’re ready to go they’ll be vacating.”
Weingarten said the developer hopes to be able to begin construction in the first quarter of 2022.
“This is very quick if we can get this going in the first phase,” he said. “The second phase is right now being negotiated and I can’t give you exact specifics on it. The second phase is going to get built. We’re working on the timing. We just don’t have it this evening.”
RXR, one of the nation’s largest developers, owns and operates 26.5 million square feet of residential and commercial properties across the Northeast.
