White Plains Bank Street Development to Begin in March
The LCOR multi-use development at 55 Bank Street, White Plains, has been in the planning stages for several years awaiting the optimum time for the project to move forward.
After several changes in the project’s proposed design and site plan to reduce the building height and bring parking below grade, the White Plains Common Council was happy to give the go-ahead and last week Westchester County’s Industrial Development Agency approved those amendments to allow the $250 million transit-oriented development to proceed.
Construction is expected to begin in March.
The development consists of housing, retail primarily for use by residents in the immediate neighborhood, and parking. The site is just south of the Metro-North train station in downtown White Plains, next to an existing apartment complex.
The project will be comprised of two 16-story apartment buildings to be constructed on a site currently occupied by a commuter parking lot. LCOR acquired the site from the White Plains Urban Renewal Agency. The 760,000-square-foot complex will include 449 market rental apartments, 112 affordable rental units, 6,300 square-feet of retail space and a 570-space parking garage.
LCOR is a fully integrated investment, management and development company with a specialty in developing core urban mid- and high-rise properties, including large-scale multifamily, commercial, and mixed-use properties. Its real estate operating and development business manages more than 7,400 multifamily units, 7.5 million square feet of commercial space and a substantial development pipeline of mixed use real estate in core markets. Nationally, LCOR has developed more than 21,000 residential units and more than 18 million square-feet of commercial space.
The LCOR development in White Plains is one of the first projects on the books for the County IDA in 2015. In 2014 the IDA supported $435 million in private investment for 16 residential, retail and commercial developments in Westchester.
The announcement of the White Plains project comes on the heals of a presentation by County Executive Robert Astorino at Westchester County Association breakfast meeting where he outlined Westchester initiatives during the Association’s 2015 forecast.
“Westchester is open for business,” said Astorino in a statement. “I am committed to marshaling all of the resources of our county government toward promoting economic growth and prosperity in Westchester.”
The presentation coincided with his release of a new report entitled, Westchester Smart: Ideas and initiatives for a stronger economy, which grew out of roundtable discussions held between February and August of 2014 with 50 community leaders representing key demographic and business sectors, according to county officials. The 32-page report identifies the county’s strengths and challenges, and it can be viewed online at westchestersmart.com.
Westchester’s top three strengths according to the report are: talent, accessibility and quality of life.
Its three challenges are affordability, complexity and identity. Astorino noted that Westchester’s suburban government structure and lifestyle tend to overshadow the dynamism that lies beneath.
