$300M Mixed-Use Project in Port Chester Advances
John Jordan | August 29, 2015
PORT CHESTER—Starwood Capital Group of Greenwich, CT officially began the public review process last month on its ambitious $300-million redevelopment plan for the long shuttered United Hospital property here.
The project entered the public review process on July 20 after Port Chester’s Board of Trustees voted to accept as complete the Draft Environmental Impact Statement submitted by the site’s owner, affiliates of Starwood Capital Group. A public hearing at the Village Courthouse on the project is scheduled on Aug. 27 with the Board of Trustees on environmental approvals and a zoning variance. United Hospital shut its doors a decade ago. The real estate investment firm submitted the DEIS to the village Board of Trustees in January 2015.
“We applaud Mayor Dennis Pilla and the entire Board of Trustees for their leadership in advancing this process,” said Ellis Rinaldi, executive vice president of Starwood Capital. “We appreciate the tremendous support our plan has received from Port Chester residents, public officials and the business community, and we look forward to a continued constructive dialogue throughout the review process. This is a historic opportunity for the village and we are committed to helping Port Chester seize it.”
Starwood Capital’s proposal reimagines the site of the former United Hospital as a dynamic new part of Port Chester that complements the village’s vibrant downtown. The transformative project will reintegrate the underutilized and isolated site into the village for the first time in a decade, company officials stated.
When complete, the site will feature 90,000 square-feet of street-level shops and restaurants, an approximately 135-room hotel, 217,000 square-feet of office space, 500 residential units designed for young professionals, 230 units of age-restricted senior residential, on-site parking and nearly an acre of publicly accessible open space.
The redevelopment also is expected to generate millions of dollars in economic and community benefits for Port Chester by creating more than 1,800 construction and nearly 1,000 permanent jobs, expanding the tax base and funding much-needed public improvements beyond what is required, including traffic mitigation on Boston Post Road, Starwood Capital officials stated.
Starwood stated that the proposal will achieve the objectives set forth in the Comprehensive Plan adopted by Port Chester in 2013, while minimizing the site’s impact on the local public schools.
The 15.4-acre site of the former United Hospital is located near the intersection of I-287 and I-95 and with frontage on Boston Post Road (US Route 1). United Hospital (406 Boston Post Road) has been closed since 2005. Starwood Capital purchased the site in 2006. In March of 2013, the Village of Port Chester’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to adopt zoning changes as part of a Comprehensive Plan that paved the way for the site to become a mixed-use development.
Starwood Capital Group is a private investment firm with a core focus on global real estate. The firm maintains 12 offices in six countries around the world. Starwood Capital Group has raised more than $31 billion of equity capital since its inception in 1991, and currently manages more than $44 billion in assets.
Editor, Real Estate In-Depth