Luxury Senior Housing Project Proposed in Yorktown
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A luxury age-restricted housing project with apartments and townhouses has been proposed to replace an empty office complex off Route 6 in Jefferson Valley.
AMS Acquisitions of New York City presented its concept to the Yorktown Town Board last week for the former headquarters of the Blue Book Network at 800 East Main Street.
Envisioned for the 35-acre property are 200 rental apartments and 50 townhome condominiums with upscale amenities in a park-like setting.
“The vacant site—just like numerous vacant or partially occupied office parks in our region—is in need of repurposing in the face of a very weak office market,” said Mark Weingarten, the developers’ attorney. “This type of repurposing is happening throughout our county.”
Fifteen acres of the property would remain as open space with two building clusters. One cluster is the ownership townhomes and the other is apartment buildings of various sizes. A clubhouse and other amenities would sit between the two clusters and serve as the center of the complex.
Weingarten said a 55-plus upscale community would deliver many benefits to Yorktown, including returning a vacant site to productive use; increased property taxes for the town and school districts without added school-age children; new construction jobs; a boost to surrounding small businesses that would benefit from the inflow of construction workers and new residents; and the creation of more diverse housing stock for older adults who want to downsize from single-family homes.
Councilman Ed Lachterman said some Yorktown residents have asked for this type of project.
“As the liaison for our Senior Advisory Committee, the availability of having some place they can downsize to has been very, very big for them,” Lachterman said.
The developer needs a zoning change from the Town Board to proceed with the project, as residential uses are not currently allowed. No formal applications have been filed with the town as Weingarten explained AMS Acquisitions wanted to present the concept first to gauge the Town Board’s interest.
After the presentation, Supervisor Matt Slater told the Town Board that he has received several redevelopment proposals from the current owners of 800 East Main Street, and most were undesirable.
“We told the people selling the property—a hedge fund—that we wanted to see it as a high-end, regional attraction,” Slater said.
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