Apartment building approved for former Nathan Miller nursing home site

A rendering of 37 DeKalb Ave. at night. Image by Papp Architects PC.

The White Plains Common Council has unanimously approved a special permit, an amended site plan and environmental findings to allow the redevelopment of the former Nathan Miller Center for Nursing Care at 37 DeKalb Ave. into a multifamily rental apartment building with 21 units. The developer is Brooklyn-based 37 DeKalb Owner LCC whose principal is Mark Moseson.

During the Aug. 5 public hearing on the project before the council vote, attorney William Null of the White Plains-based law firm Cuddy & Feder and architect Phil Fruchter of Papp Architects PC in White Plains, gave presentations.

Null said that the proposal had received favorable recommendations from the city”™s Planning Board and Design Review Board.

“Our proposal includes construction of a garage within the building so that we yield 21 parking spaces both on-site and within the building,” Fruchter said. “The balance of the first floor is going to become dwelling units. Then, we have a second floor of dwelling units and a new third-floor penthouse set back from the existing building”™s edge to be as deferential as possible to the existing architecture.”

Fruchter subsequently told the Business Journal that the building was originally designed in the mid-1960s by architect William Breger, who was a student of Bauhaus School founder Walter Gropius. It was a school of architecture, design and the applied arts that existed in Germany from 1919 to 1933.

While showing the council renderings of what would be built, Fruchter said, “You can see the existing structure is preserved, cleaned and restored. New glass infill and wood panels are provided and the new third story is rendered as discreetly as possible. There are also active photovoltaic panels (solar cells) on the roof in addition to filtration systems, a high-energy building envelope and introduction of natural daylight into the core of the building to the greatest extent possible.”

Ken Kristal, who lives across the street from the Nathan Miller site and is a board member of the Carhart Neighborhood Association, said, “It”™s been too many years since the Nathan Miller nursing home closed its doors and it”™s been a long and arduous journey to get to this night, but on behalf of the residents of Carhart I urge you to support this project and vote yes,” which is what the Common Council did.