Residences Planned for White Plains City Square
At the Dec. 18 meeting of the White Plains Planning Board, a site plan amendment for City Square in the White Plains downtown, was discussed.
The city block that is well-known as one of the traditional gateways to White Plains, had been dedicated office space and home to some of Pace University’s offices. The plan is for the familiar pink-colored buildings to continue to hold office space, but the request before the Common Council and out before the Planning Board for comment, is the addition of apartments and additional retail space.
The block, marked by Main Street, Bank Street, Martine Avenue and S. Lexington, covers 2.9 acres and contains three buildings. Pace is vacating its offices at 111 Martine, leaving 189,00 sq. ft. of space the owner wants to renovate into 188 apartments. Three floors above will be maintained as top-level office space. Two eateries and some retail are proposed for the ground-level.
One-hundred and twenty-four apartments already exist in the building on S. Lexington.
The plan includes 94 studios, 57 one bedroom and 37 two-bedroom apartments.
Six percent will be affordable units at 60 to 70 percent of the Westchester median income.
An underground parking structure containing 1,037 spaces will continue to serve the buildings on the block.
At 50 Main Street the plan calls for building a retail arcade to enhance the office entrance.
Planning Board members asked about the viability of adding more restaurants to the White Plains downtown since other areas had not been successful in keeping restaurants busy. They asked if the space could be repurposed to serve other uses if necessary.
They were also concerned that plans to create arcades would encroach on public open space around the buildings.
Attorney William Null, representing the owner said the plan accommodated White Plains Transit District recommendations for enhancing the pedestrian experience from the downtown to the White Plains train station.
An entrance to underground parking on Main will be closed off and redirected to make the streetscape more attractive.
