Westchester IDA to Consider Incentives for More than $1 Billion in New Projects in White Plains
John Jordan | March 28, 2019
WHITE PLAINS—On Friday morning (March 29), the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency will consider granting incentives for three major projects in Downtown White Plains that will involve more than $1.2 billion in new development.
Two projects will create 1,674 multifamily units and another will offer 132 independent living units; all in the Downtown district.
On the IDA’s agenda are the proposed redevelopment of the White Plains Mall into a massive mixed-use project that will feature approximately 860 rental apartment units in multiple tower buildings and retail and co-working space, the redevelopment of the former Westchester Pavilion mall and the development of a senior living facility on Bloomingdale Road.
The $600-million redevelopment of the current White Plains Mall by owner WP Mall Realty, LLC will involve the demolition of the 170,000-square-foot existing mall at 200 Hamilton Ave. The Hamilton Green project will entail 860 apartment units in four buildings with 10% of the units earmarked as affordable.
Other major components include 84,500 square feet of specialty retail and restaurant space, including a Food and Craft Hall, 27,000 square feet of office space, an approximately 956-space parking garage and open space.
In its application to the Westchester County IDA for incentives, WP Mall Realty states that it hopes to begin demolition and site work in May 2019 and construction on the mixed-use project by November 2019.
Hamilton Green is expected to create 1,450 construction jobs and 500 permanent full-time jobs upon completion. The applicant is seeking the IDA to approve approximately $14 million in sales tax exemptions and $3.5 million in mortgage tax exemptions.
The more than $500-million redevelopment of the former Westchester Pavilion mall at 60 South Broadway has been delayed while Lennar Multifamily Communities revised its original plan that had called for 707 multifamily units and 85,000 square feet of retail space.
The Westchester Pavilion Mall has been demolished to make way for the new development.
Lennar Multifamily, which is already building a more than $223-million multifamily project at 131 Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains, has increased the number of apartments to 814 units and decreased the retail component to more than 28,000 square feet at 60 South Broadway. The development would be built in two phases. Each phase of the project is expected to cost more than $250 million, according to the developer’s filing with the IDA.
Lennar is seeking sales tax exemptions of $5.5 million in phase one and $5.4 million in phase two; mortgage tax exemptions of $1.25 million in phase one and $1.25 million in phase two and property tax abatements of $28 million in phase one and $30 million in phase two.
The third major project under consideration at the IDA’s meeting on Friday will be a senior living project called Waterstone that will be built on Bloomingdale Road. The project, estimated to cost approximately $120 million to develop, will involve a five-story, 132-unit independent living facility.
Being proposed by a special entity of three Massachusetts-based firms—National Development, EPOCH Senior Living, Inc., and Charles River Realty Investors, the partnership will acquire 120 Bloomingdale Road, the 2.56-acre site of an existing at grade parking lot. The partnership plans to acquire 120 Bloomingdale Road as well as an easement right for a parking structure at an adjacent property, according to its IDA filing.
The development partnership is seeking IDA approval of nearly $2.5 million in sales tax exemptions and $780,481.78 in mortgage tax exemptions.
Editor, Real Estate In-Depth