Sunrise Senior Living looks to modify plan for 900 King St. community
December 19, 2024 at 4:03 a.m.
Progress continues to be made for the development of 900 King St. into an age-restricted senior living community after a period of dormancy.
Attorney David Steinmetz of Zarin & Steinmetz in White Plains and Clyde McGraw from contract vendee Sunrise Senior Living appeared before the Rye Brook Board of Trustees last Tuesday, Dec. 10 along with architect Stuart Lax from Perkins Eastman to present some proposed changes to the site plan that had been approved on Sept. 14, 2021.
“Sunrise is one of the largest and most preeminent providers of senior care in our country,” Steinmetz said. “They are excited to be here as the contract vendee.”
“This is a previously approved project,” he said. “The project is not getting bigger, the project is getting better. It is actually getting a little bit smaller. There are some minor tweaks being contemplated. The building remains, there is no change in the roof height, the density, the concept remains the same. These are almost indiscernible changes.”
“We are also requesting an extension of the approvals,” Steinmetz added. “We know there is a process we have to go through. Nothing has yet been filed formally. We expect to do that shortly.”
He said he had already been engaged with attorney Leslie Snyder on behalf of The Arbors, the townhouse community which is located adjacent to the property. “We fully intend to engage with Mr. Barnett and The Arbors once we have an application and we know our final design.”
The Planned Unit Development site plan proposed by 900 King Street Owner LLC and approved in 2021 includes a total of 231 residential rental units consisting of 126 independent living units, 85 assisted living units and 20 townhomes along with other related infrastructure including driveways, walkways, garage and surface parking, site lighting, signage and stormwater improvements.
Lax laid out a series of proposed modifications to the site plan, 11 in all.
They include reducing the overall building footprint for the independent living building and proceeding with the entry drive cul de sac as approved by the Board of Trustees. The Architectural Review Board had asked for a different configuration, but Sunrise likes what the Board of Trustees likes, Lax said.
Other proposed changes to that building include modifications to the landscaping on the internal courtyard and adding more balconies to the apartments around the perimeter.
Desired modifications to the assisted living building include reducing the overall square footage, reworking the porte cochere for the building and the entry sequence and adding more balconies.
Other changes Sunrise would like to make are:
*Adding some sort of outdoor amenity
*Reconfiguring the parking to provide a better visual for the assisted living units above it
*Improving the look of the trash collection area and generator with some sort of structure to make them more visually appealing
“Are those putting greens?” Mayor Jason Klein asked in looking at the renderings being shown.
“It’s something we are looking at,” Lax acknowledged.
“None of these changes have been finalized,” Steinmetz reiterated. “The ARB never issued a final determination on the project, so we know we are going to have to complete that as part of the process.”
“I for one am very pleased to see this moving forward again and to know that applications to the ARB and Planning Board are forthcoming,” Mayor Klein said. “Seeing action here when there has been none for a long time is a positive for Rye Brook.”
The balconies will now be full balconies you can walk out onto instead of the originally approved Juliet balconies. “They are tightening the building so the further part of the balcony is still within the footprint,” Village Administrator Chris Bradbury explained.
“I feel like we had a visual of what the people see with regards to The Arbors,” said Trustee Stephanie Fischer. “Maybe that is something you can show us what the visual would be toward The Arbors.”
“Perkins Eastman is still with the project,” Lax said. “We understand the history and the sensitives of the town.”
“I’m glad to see the porte cochere back to the original,” said Trustee David Heiser. “I think it’s more functional than what the ARB had proposed.”
Steinmetz informed the board that Sunrise has a project that is fully approved but not yet built in Tarrytown and others in Fleetwood and Crestwood that were constructed 20 years ago.
Bradbury explained that once an application is submitted, it will go to the Planning Board for PUD site plan modification. However, the village board is still lead agency for State Environmental Quality Review Act purposes. “If the findings statement has to be modified, for instance,” he said. “The other step is the ARB which didn’t reach finality for the previous approval.”
“We appreciate your coming before us and your ongoing conversations with The Arbors,” said Klein. “We are encouraged by the pace with which this is finally picking up.”
“I for one would love to see continued dialogue with The Arbors,” said Trustee Susan Epstein. “That wasn’t the case before. Good neighbors are very important to us.”
Dan Barnett, president of The Arbors Home Owners Association board, was on hand to give his two cents.
“It’s been a long time,” he said. “We are excited about the change with Sunrise, the ability to reset the communication which had been confrontational. The Arbors is the most affected party here. We had conversations with the developer that devolved, and we were pushed aside.”
“We want to sit down and discuss and collaborate with you,” Barnett added. “We want to be good neighbors to each other.”
Barnett said The Arbors was recommending giving a 3-month rather than a 6-month extension.
He also addressed the balconies. “The concern we would have for balconies is that things are out there. We would not want to see clothes out there. But if I were living in a senior facility, I would want a balcony.”
After the discussion, the board voted unanimously to give Sunrise a 6-month extension on top of the 6-month extension previously given until Mar. 15, 2025. The new extension will be until Sept. 15, 2025 “to maintain the status quo while the forthcoming application is processed.” As conditions of that approval, Sunrise must submit monthly progress reports to Village Administrator Bradbury until an application for an amended PUD site plan is submitted to the Village.
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