Developer Floats Proposal for 200 Luxury Apartments in No. Castle

A New Jersey-based developer of luxury residences is proposing to build 200 high-end rental apartments on a portion of the Jennie Clarkson residential school campus in North Castle that would be geared mainly toward empty nesters.

JMF Properties, LLC is the contract vendee to buy 22 of the 36 acres of the site at 1700 Old Orchard St. in North White Plains for a project called The Vue. The apartments would be in a single structure with two distinctly separate wings. The property would be served by public water and sewer.

The developer would need a zoning change granted by the North Castle Town Board from the current one- and two-acre single-family homes to a multifamily designation in order to build.

While a formal application has not been submitted to the town, attorney Anthony Veneziano led a team of representatives on behalf of the developer to introduce the project to the public at the board’s June 8 work session.

The group of consultants stressed how the area has a dearth of multifamily housing, particularly for empty nesters who want to downsize from single-family homes, and young professionals who don’t want to own yet.

“Putting another 10, 11 homes up there isn’t going to help this town one way or another and it might even be a negative school impact,” Veneziano said. “But to do something exciting that provides a need, a lot of people are selling. It’s a great place.”

About 60 percent of the units would be two-bedroom apartments with the remainder of the project consisting of one-bedroom units, said architect Dean Marchetto. Ten percent of the units would be set aside as affordable housing, which is now required by the town for most developments.

Marchetto said a key feature that would help the project aesthetically and protects the environment is the underground garage. That will allow for an open public space between the wings to be used by the residents and limits impervious surface and runoff, he said. Stormwater management will be critical because it’s near the Kensico Reservoir overseen by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Each apartment would contain a corner window with a view of the reservoir, Marchetto said. The building would have Hardie board siding, pitched roofs and a stone base to be consistent with the woodsy surroundings.

“It’s highly amenitized, it protects the water, it hides the garage and gives a sense of community,” Marchetto said. “These are the concerns we heard heading into the project.”

Veneziano said that the project would generate an estimated $1.25 million in new taxes, with about $850,000 going toward the Valhalla School District. The remainder of the revenue would be split between the town, its special districts and the county. The land is currently tax exempt.

The consultants said because the project is geared toward adults, The Vue would generate only about 12 school-age children, about the same as 10 or 11 single-family houses, said Bonnie Von Ohlsen, a landscape architect and planner. It would net about $500,000 for the school district, she said.

The standing-room-only crowd at Town Hall, mostly comprised of North White Plains residents, laughed sarcastically at that assertion and several other comments made during the hour-long presentation.

Jeff Otteau, president of The Otteau Valuation Group, another project consultant, said the pattern of corporations leaving the area has been influenced by the lack of housing for prospective employees, which has impacted the Westchester job market. There are about 16 percent fewer jobs in Westchester than before the start of the Great Recession.

He said there is also a significant demand for luxury living quarters. The one-bedroom apartments are currently projected to rent for $2,800 to $2,900 a month while the larger units would go for $3,100 to $3,200.

Development of The Vue would bring the type of resident that would spend money at local shops and restaurants because the residents will all be earning $100,000 and up, Otteau said.

“What they do have are fat wallets and they’re looking to spend that in the local community,” he said.

Although the consultants acknowledged that North Broadway is congested during peak hours, the project would not make the traffic worse. Mitigation measures would be proposed to offset any increase in traffic.

Town Attorney Roland Baroni said if the developer submits a petition for the zoning change, the town board would have to decide whether it would be lead agency. There would be the launch of the environmental review, referrals to the town and county planning boards and a public hearing scheduled for the proposed zoning amendment.

Director of Planning Adam Kaufman said he was uncertain whether a zoning change for the property would be to an existing zone or a specialty zone. If a zoning change is granted, the town planning board would then oversee site plan review.

Town Supervisor Michael Schiliro said the town board is open to listening to the proposal but officials are mindful that the biggest impact would be for the Valhalla schools.

“If that much of the potential revenue, the assessables, are to benefit the school district, what is the offset?” Schiliro asked. “Is there a net positive for the school district or is there a net negative?”

Public comment wasn’t allowed at the work session, but afterwards several residents said they were highly skeptical of the consultants’ claims that there would be little impact on the schools and traffic and that it would benefit the town.

North White Plains resident Lori DeNatale said the project would be a strain on services for North White Plains. While people with disposable income would dine and shop in Armonk, benefitting the rest of the town.

The presence of the affordable units alone will attract children, she said.

“It’s not going to benefit us,” DeNatale said. “I don’t believe they’re going to have 12 (additional) children. There’s a lot of single-parent households and I think that’s going to appeal to a lot of them and I think you’re going to have a lot more than 12 students come into the school district.”

Another resident, Frank Capuano, questioned many of the assertions by the consultants, particularly regarding schoolchildren, traffic and companies fleeing Westchester.

“I work for a Fortune 100 company. We’re busy, we’re not going anywhere,” he said. “I don’t know where they’re getting their statistics.”