New Development Team Pledges to Work With North Castle on Mariani Site

The new development team for a residential project at Mariani Gardens in Armonk introduced themselves to the North Castle Town Board last week, signaling they are prepared to work with the town.

A conciliatory tone struck by representatives from the Brooklyn-based Workable City Development was a bit of a contrast to a month earlier after the Town Board rejected their attorney’s request for another extension of a special use permit.

“This is an important property in town, one of the gateways to the community, and they’ll approach this development as such and taking very seriously what we’re going to put there,” said their attorney, Kory Salomone.

Partnership squabbles and the bankruptcy of one of the former development partners, Mark Mariani, stalled the project for more than two years. At the Jan. 12 meeting, Salomone requested that the new six-member partnership, NCD Acquisitions, receive an extension of the special use permit so his client could head to the Planning Board to start site plan review for the 43-unit residential rental project on Bedford Road.

The old partnership, 45 Bedford Road LLC, obtained its zoning change and special use permit in 2019.

While they did not divulge last week what, if any, elements of the plan may change, professionals from Workable City said they have had recent experience navigating development within a historic district. The company is converting a landmarked church, St. Gregory’s, formerly a Catholic School, into a 40-unit residential project that sits within the Crown Heights North Historic District in Brooklyn.

The same efforts to work with the community there will be made in Armonk, the representatives promised.

“We’d really welcome the opportunity and (we’re) excited about it, to work with the Town Board, the Planning Board to come up with a really great site plan based on what was previously approved and move forward,” said Workable City co-founder Adam Heller.

The 4.1-acre property sits directly across the street from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and is adjacent to the Bedford Road Historic District.

Matthew Klein, a partner and principal at the company, said he and his colleagues were prepared to discuss with the board what is concerning to them and try to present a project that is acceptable to everyone.

“We don’t have anything to present today,” he said. “We’re in the process of finalizing that plan again for something now that was proposed to you guys that I think you will see takes some of these comments that we heard to heart, but also still affords us the opportunity to build what was there.”

Heller and Klein also introduced Anthony Sullivan of Blue Water Construction Advisors or Yonkers, who has some experience in developing in Westchester.

Last month concerns were raised by town officials that the pandemic has created a greater number of commercial vacancies in and around downtown Armonk and that traffic patterns have changed, putting greater pressure on the Maple Avenue-Bedford Road intersection, particularly during peak hours.

The board had expressed concern that owners of some of the vacant commercial properties had been inquiring about converting to residential uses.

Salomone asked the board that his clients would like to establish an escrow account and to meet with Director of Planning Adam Kaufman and other officials.

While some board members initially stated that setting up an escrow account seemed premature, Town Attorney Roland Baroni said it was fine because it didn’t obligate the town to anything.

Martin Wilbur

Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/