Developers plan 368 units for seniors in Yorktown

Two developers are moving ahead with multifamily projects for active adults over age 55 that would bring a total of 368 new residential units to Yorktown. Toll Brothers, the Fortune 500 company headquartered in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, wants to build a 118-unit townhouse complex. AMS Acquisitions, located in Fort Lee, New Jersey, is proposing a project that would have 200 rental apartments and 50 townhouses.

Since its founding in 2012, AMS has built a portfolio of more than one million square feet of residential and commercial properties. It placed the value of the portfolio at more than $1 billion.

Toll Brothers reported that for 2021 it had a presence in 60 markets in 24 states, including Washington, D.C. It reported revenues from home building of $8.4 billion and net income of more than $833 million.

Both projects would require zoning changes in order to move forward, and both companies in November submitted zoning-change petitions to Yorktown.

Toll Brothers wants to build on 50.51 acres of land it would purchase from Field Home-Holy Comforter at 2302 and 2448 Catherine St., according to attorney David Cooper of the White Plains-based law firm Zarin & Steinmetz LLP. He said that the townhome community would be built on a 48.05-acre section of the property.

Toll Brothers had presented its idea for the development to the Yorktown Town Board about a year ago but it wasn”™t until Nov. 15 of this year that a petition was filed with Yorktown asking for a zoning change so that the proposal could move forward.

The Yorktown Town Board on Nov. 22 heard from Attorney Mark Weingarten of the White Plains-based law firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr LLP asking the board to formally accept the application of AMS to rezone and develop 800 E. Main St. The entity filing the application is 800 E Main Yorktown Dev AMC LLC.

“They are all types and classes of multifamily and for-sale; there are town homes and there are also villas and apartments,” Weingarten said about the 250 units that AMS is  proposing. “What we”™re seeking is really to start the process. We”™re asking you to accept the application that you have before you, to declare your intent to be lead agency in the SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) process so the 30-day clock for that can start. We”™re asking you to refer out the application to all of the implicated, interested, involved agencies.” The Yorktown Town Board took the requested action.

According to an environmental assessment form, the plan is to redevelop a 35.53-acre parcel that currently has two empty two-story office buildings totaling approximately 60,000 square feet. The office complex had been the home of The Blue Book Network, a construction industry information publishing company. The existing buildings would be demolished and the residential community for active seniors age 55 and up would be built. Approximately 200 of the apartments would be for rent and the 50 townhomes would be for sale. There would be a clubhouse along with fitness and wellness amenities along with outdoor active and passive recreational spaces.

“The proposed residential buildings include ”˜apartment-style”™ buildings and ”˜villa”™ buildings, which are intended to be offered as rental units (proposed to be constructed in the southern portion of the property), and town-home style buildings, which are intended to be offered as for-sale (and proposed to be constructed to the north of the rental buildings),” the zoning petition said.

The rezoning petition said that the site would include 383 parking spaces. It claimed there is a need for the project in Yorktown and the surrounding community in part because empty-nesters or seniors who want to downsize from their current single-family homes wish to remain in the community in which they have lived and raised their families.

The developer said that an existing green buffer that”™s from 150 feet to 200 feet wide and comprised of a wide variety of trees would remain and provide natural screening of the site.

“In addition, approximately 6.25 acres of the property adjacent to the Donald J. Trump State Park will be preserved as open space,” the zoning petition said.

Toll Brothers originally had told Yorktown it was developing a plan to build 136 townhomes on part of the Field Home property and that they had a contract to buy the property for which the development is proposed. The town had previously approved the site for the development of 108 independent-living units, a 96-unit skilled nursing home and offices. The nursing home portion of the project was developed, but the rest of it was not.

”™”Toll Brothers is in the due diligence phase of this proposal and wanted to discuss the development concept with you and wants to get your feedback before putting the final pen to paper,” Cooper had told the Yorktown Town Board in 2021. He said back then that what Toll Brothers would like to see built on the site is less dense than what could be built there.

“Toll Brothers has been interested in bringing a high-quality residential product to Yorktown for a number of years and is presented with this site and believes it presents an excellent opportunity for a new age-oriented community,” Cooper said at the time.

The property contains the former Catherine Field Home, originally founded by an Episcopal nun in 1887 as a home for older women. Although in need of repairs, the building has been used by local nonprofits.