Westchester County’s Industrial Development Agency this morning agreed to reduce the property taxes to be paid by the developers of a $42 million older-adult apartment building planned for downtown White Plains.

New York City nonprofit HANAC Inc. and The Bluestone Organization of New York City head a development group that plans to build 221 apartments in a single building to rise at 112-122 Court St., a 1.3-acre county-owned property bordered as well by Grand and Quarropas streets. Westchester has agreed to lease the property to the developers for 65 years, plus options totaling 30 additional years.

Through their entity, HANAC WPSH Housing Development Fund Corp., the developers are pursuing plans to build a 14-story building intended to attract a mix of older adults making up to 50, 60 and 80 percent of area median income.

The IDA agreed to enter into a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) program with White Plains, its school district and HANAC and Bluestone by transferring or leasing the site to the agency; exactly how has yet to be determined. The developers project the tax savings from a PILOT at $30,948.

Developers also furnished a few extra numbers about the project in papers submitted to the IDA and released at this morning’s meeting:

Projected jobs: 15, for a total payroll of $494,000.
Cost breakdown: $22 million for materials, the rest for labor.
Representing HANAC and co-developers were Mark Tulis and John Kirkpatrick, both of the White Plains law firm Oxman Tulis Geiger Whyatt Kirkpatrick L.L.P. Those co-developers include Enterprise Social Investment Corp. of Columbia, Md.

Developers eye more units, less daycare

As HANAC Executive Director John Kaiteris told the Business Journal on Feb. 28, plans for the older-adult building have changed somewhat since last year due to rising construction costs and questions raised by White Plains officials.

Kaiteris said construction costs have forced the developers to raise the number of units from the original 200, as well as shrink the building by a story, to 14 stories tall.

HANAC has teamed up with The Bluestone Organization, both of New York City, and Enterprise Social Investment Corp. of Columbia, Md., on an older-adult apartment building planned for 143 Grand St.

The project is days away from finalizing a written lease – 65 years plus options for 30 more -- with Westchester County, which owns the 1.3-acre project site. But 143 Grand is months away from the start of a Common Council review, expected to take five or more months. The council has yet to receive plans, council President Rita Z. Malmud said.

Kaiteris said the project will house only an adult daycare program, not the inter-generational daycare program that touched off a squabble among White Plains politicos. He confirmed the city has questioned the need for the daycare, as the Business Journal reported earlier this week – but not due to the county overnight “drop-in” homeless shelter one block north at 85 Court St., since officials met with HANAC before the shelter opened.

“They [city officials] felt there was sufficient daycare in the city of White Plains through faith-based facilities,” Kaiteris said.

The presence of the shelter is even more reason why intergenerational daycare makes no sense at 143 Grand, says Paul Wood, executive officer to Mayor Joseph M. Delfino.

“They’re going to have a day care center that close to a homeless shelter? Who’s going to use it?” Wood asked.

The city’s stance prompted county Board of Legislators Chairman William J. Ryan (D-White Plains), a longtime Delfino rival, to urge the increasingly anti-Delfino Common Council to restore the daycare.

Last week Ryan dismissed the city’s argument by saying the shelter will move by the time ground is broken for the older-adult building. He said the daycare center would not be affected by the shelter because the shelter only operates at night.

“Their rationale is ridiculous,” Ryan said.

Westchester officials promised nearly three weeks ago the shelter would leave soon, when announcing a replacement facility next to county police headquarters in Hawthorne. Officials dropped that plan two days later, when it emerged that the shelter violated an agreement between Greenburgh and the county not to locate a second residence for homeless people within 2 miles of the WestHELP campus for homeless families with young children.

Last week, County Executive Andrew J. Spano publicly ruled out relocating the shelter to Hawthorne or elsewhere in Mount Pleasant.

Delfino in 2003 proposed that the county sell 143 Grand to the city so developer Frank Cantatore – who ran unsuccessfully for Ryan’s seat that year – could build senior housing there.

“There would have been beautiful, affordable housing for seniors the past three years if the mayor had been allowed to develop the site,” Wood said.

$50G for WEDC; $40G for Barclays ‘image-building’

In other business, the IDA also approved a $50,000 grant for the Women’s Enterprise Development Center Inc. (WEDC), a White Plains nonprofit that assists women intent on starting or growing a business.

WEDC Executive Director Anne M. Janiak said the money will support the center’s microenterprise development program. The program this year will offer five “cycles” or sessions of core entrepreneurial training to low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs – and will also expand into entrepreneurial training for older adults in collaboration with Mainstream at Westchester Community College.

Last year the center’s workshops and programs drew 1,375 participants – more than triple the 475 people attracted in 2005.

The IDA also approved spending $40,000 for tickets to The Barclays golf tournament set for Aug. 20-26 at Westchester Country Club in Rye. The tickets will be doled out to brokers and executives of businesses considering relocation or expansion in Westchester.

This year’s Barclays will serve as the first of four tournaments in the PGA’s new Championship Series – the winner of which will receive the first-ever FedEx Cup.

When IDA board member William Wood questioned how the county was measuring the campaign’s effectiveness, IDA Executive Director Theresa G. Waivada said the tickets drew increasing numbers of commercial real estate brokers and clients each year.

“When we go out to the real estate community in the tri-state area, we want them to visit Westchester as our guest,” Waivada said. “It’s what we call soft marketing, and it’s part of our image-building.”

Reader Comments

Add Your Comments