More Than 300 New Apartments Proposed for 1133 Westchester Avenue
A development partnership is proposing to create more than 300 apartments at 1133 Westchester Ave. in White Plains.
The joint venture of the NRP Group and the RPW Group is proposing to create the housing in the same complex that already has a commercial area which includes a day care center and other businesses.
Jonathan Gertman, vice president of development for the NRP Group, told the Common Council on Jan. 28 that the proposal is for 303 apartments that would be created in three new five-story buildings. Ten percent of the units would be created as affordable housing and solar panels would be placed on the roofs of the apartment buildings, he said.
Michael Zarin, an attorney representing the developers, said the property is located in a Planned Campus Development District and would not require zoning changes from the Common Council. “We’re in complete compliance with all the zoning,” he said. The proposal is “what this zone was intended to create,” he said. “It really is an integrated project.”
Project engineer Diego Villareale, associate principal of JMC, said about half of the 523 parking spaces proposed for the project are already on the property. There would be one, two and three bedroom apartments spread through the three proposed apartment buildings, he said.
Of the 70 acres on the site, the three proposed apartment buildings would be constructed on about 20 acres, Villareale said. The housing development would include several amenities including a management office, fitness rooms, and a swimming pool. An additional 12,000 square feet of public recreational space would be linked to an existing walking path on the site and be open to the general public. Landscaping would be placed on the property to give a visual separation between the apartment buildings and the current commercial space, he said.
About 31 public school students would be generated, which would be less than a half percent increase in students for the White Plains district, Villareale said.
Councilwoman Milagros Lecuona asked if the proposed swimming pool would be open to the general public. Villareale said the swimming pool would be private.
The developers agreed to a request from Lecuona to bring back to the Common Council a list of which parts of the proposed project would be available to the general public and which portions would be private.
Lecuona said the developers should make the parking lot as pervious as possible and improve the look of the lot, including the addition of some art.
Mayor Thomas Roach said the parking lot would have a “shocking amount of asphalt.” The developers should either use a “capture and reuse” irrigation system or permeable surfaces for the new parking spaces. Robert Weisz, chairman and CEO of the RPW Group, said he would seek to have the parking area attractive and green ecologically. “This has been subject to a lot of conversations with our partner,” he said. The parking lot will not just consist of blacktop, he said.
The next step in the approval process is for the Common Council is to refer the plan to the appropriate review boards. The partners hope to begin construction in 2020.
