Bio-Tech Development Near Westchester Medical Center Mulled
Mount Pleasant Supervisor Joan Maybury said last week she was receptive to the concept that calls for a bio-tech business near the Westchester Medical Center that would also include a children’s museum, hotel, assisted living facility and retail on the 80-acre site.
At the June 21 town board work session, developer John Fareri and his representatives discussed their project, which was originally announced in May 2010. Fareri, who led the efforts to build the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, is seeking to construct two million square feet of space in six green buildings devoted to bio-tech research. He also wants to build a hotel, restaurant and commercial space Fareri would also create a children’s living science center.
Fareri owns 20 acres immediately adjacent to the county’s 60-acre parcel, which could be leased to the developer for a token amount of $1 a year.
“This could become a major bio-medical center,” Fareri said at last week’s town board meeting.
John Sacardi, the director of planning for Sacardi and Schiff, told the town board the primary access to the site would be off of North Road, he said.
Sacardi said. medical research facilities would be located on eastern portion of the site. The children’s science center would be located in the southeastern portion of the land, which would also include some retail use, such as a Starbuck’s-like business, he said. Also being proposed for the site is an assisted living facility on the southeast corner of the property, and a hotel, which would be constructed on the southern portion of the site. Michael Israel, president and CEO of Westchester Medical Center, told a hotel was needed in the area because families of people in his hospital come from the outside the area, including Albany and Connecticut. “They’ve got no place to stay,” he said.
“The cornerstone of the project is the children’s living science center,” Fareri told the town board. “It’s something I’m very passionate about.” According to information provided to the town board, the science center could feature a drunken driving simulator and exhibits on such subjects as smoking, causes of suicide, diabetes, and healthy lifestyles.
Open space would be set aside behind the bio-tech facilities in the southern portion of the site and there would be a green buffer zone to the north of the research facilities and park land adjacent to the buffer zone.
Sacardi said the project would generate between 2,000 and 3,000 construction jobs and the same number of jobs once the development was totally open. The development would also provide $6 million in property tax dollars annually, he said.
Alfred DelBello, an attorney representing Fareri, said the town board would need to “develop a zoning category” for the land. Currently, the property is zoned R-40 (residential).
“Once we get our approvals, I see it as a five to seven year project, developed in stages,” Fareri said.
Town Supervisor Joan Maybury said she supported Ferari’s proposal. “It has a tremendous amount of advantages,” she said, telling Fareri later in the meeting, “All of the uses you mentioned seem to work.”
