IDA awards Westchester Crossing $161.6M financial aid package
June 27, 2024 at 4:56 a.m.
Following a public hearing on May 30 at which no one showed up to speak, the Port Chester Industrial Development Agency (IDA) met again on June 12 and approved a financial aid package to make possible the successful completion of Westchester Crossing, the long-awaited mixed-use development approved by the Port Chester Board of Trustees for the former 15.45-acre United Hospital property.
The package approved by the IDA, with one dissension, will provide $135.27 million in savings through Payments in Lieu of Taxes, $4.6 million in estimated mortgage recording tax abatements and $21.7 million in estimated sales/use tax savings. The total financial assistance equals $161.6 million.
The applicant, Boston Post Road Owner LLC, will be required to pay an administrative fee of about $4 million to the IDA. “PCIDA fees are due when an applicant ‘closes’ with us,” Frank Ferrara, chairman of the IDA, explained in an email. “They usually don’t do this until they have their financing secured and are ready to close with their lender.”
Rose Associates and BedRock Real Estate Partners will be the developers of the project at 406-408 Boston Post Rd. and 999 High St. and will also have an ownership interest.
The development, expected to cost approximately $775 million, includes market rate housing, age restricted senior housing (both independent and assisted living), affordable housing, a boutique hotel, cell tower, amenity space and retail space. It will include surface parking and below grade parking for each building, a total of 1,088 spaces. All buildings will be eight stories tall or less.
The applicant will subdivide the site into nine parcels. One will consist of about 200 units of senior housing. Two other lots will have 419 units of non-age-restricted residential in two buildings (Phase I residential housing) and 15,370 square feet of retail and 17,000 square feet of amenity space. Two other lots will be the site of 356 units of residential in two buildings and 2,800 square feet of retail and 7,900 square feet of amenity space (Phase II residential housing).
Of the 775 residential units, 87 will be affordable housing with 47 units in Phase I and 40 in Phase II. The affordable units will be interspersed throughout the project’s four residential buildings and will have the same level of finish as the market rate units, according to the “Description of the Project” submitted to the IDA.
The idea is to create a “downtown aesthetic” within a suburban environment, the description states. It is expected that this component will include restaurants, gym space and retail to complement the residential, senior housing and 120-key boutique hotel to be built on a separate lot.
Another lot will contain a monopole cell tower, which has already been constructed. The three cell carrier antennas that were located on the roof of 999 High St. are being relocated to the monopole.
An internal road system will intersect the entire site and connect to the Boston Post Road and High Street. This system also includes a bypass road that will connect the Post Road to High Street. This road will be deeded to the village when completed. There will be a half-acre of open space—an outdoor amenity space—as a focal point at the center of the project.
No public participation
While no one showed up to speak on the application at the May 30 public hearing, a few written comments were received.
M&J Wilcow, which purchased the Kohl’s Shopping Center a few years ago, submitted a letter in favor of the application. “They are excited about the amenities in the public right of way,” said Chairman Frank Ferrara at the June 12 meeting. At the public hearing, Ferrara said M&J Wilcow also wrote that the housing and hotel would be a boost to the shopping center.
The other correspondence came from State Senator Shelley Mayer and Assemblyman Steve Otis. “They said it’s overdue to get the project underway,” said Ferrara. “They are pleased with the various types of housing in the mix. They also like the idea of green space, the right of way improvements and the job creation.”
“I was kind of surprised that there was no public participation,” added Ferrara, qualifying that statement by saying that “this has been going on for 19 years,” referring to when United Hospital closed. “The village for a time really had it out about what they wanted to see on that site, but there has been excitement about the demolition.”
After the public hearing, Ferrara said: “I think people are exhausted. The village tore itself apart over redevelopment, and we finally came to a compromise.”
6-1 vote in favor of more generous package
In their discussion before voting, Ferrara touted the more generous of two models the body was considering with a cost benefit ratio of 1.39 and $225 million in net fiscal benefits from all new taxes the project will generate as well as the infrastructure it will provide in the right of way.
“The real difference is the final 10 years between 10 and 20,” said IDA member John Hiensch. “This thing is going to be successful after 10 years or it isn’t. What is the advantage of giving them a 5% reduction after 10 years?”
“The importance of giving a certain rate of return,” Ferrara replied.
Ferrara asked for a motion and second for the model 2 resolution and received it. Six of the seven members of the body voted in favor with Hiensch, who made it clear that he believes in the project but preferred the less generous model, dissenting.
“Given the experience of the other PILOTs around town, the level of infrastructure to get this project off the ground is the reason I went for #2,” said IDA member Dan Brakewood.
The Westchester Crossing development will include reconstruction of the sanitary sewer lines between High Street and South Regent Street on the Boston Post Road and reconstruction of the sewer lines between High Street and Olivia Street with new 15-inch pipe and manholes.
Developers divulge timeline
After the public hearing at the Port Chester Senior Community Center on May 30, Larry Rose of Rose Associates and Chris Gibaldi of BedRock Real Estate Partners answered some questions about the status of Westchester Crossing.
When asked how long it would take to complete the project, Gibaldi said it was dependent on too many factors to estimate. He said it will be completed as quickly as possible but “there are all sorts of economic factors.”
The residential building at 999 High St. is prepared for demolition. It will be razed this summer. Jananne Abel|Westmore News
The residential components will be constructed first, and the other phases will be dependent on future developers.
There will be a master developer to oversee the whole project with its nine parcels. One of those parcels is the bypass road and another is the sidewalks.
A master developer agreement governs the first phase of remediation and internal roads.
Following site development, building construction can commence site by site. Gibaldi said it will be two years before any building construction will begin.
The senior housing and hotel will be done by other operators while Rose and BedRock will construct the residential and retail portions. There are no set operators yet, but they are working on it, said Gibaldi, who added that senior housing is a booming market.
Most of the 500,000 square feet that made up the hospital campus has been demolished and the residential building at 999 High St. has been prepared for demolition. Gibaldi said it will be razed this summer.
There was great interest from onlookers when demolition began at the hospital site on Aug. 11, 2023.
To handle the increased traffic this new mixed-use project will create, Rose and Gibaldi explained that there will be widening along the Post Road, lane shifting and widening of the I-287 exit ramp.
To get across the Boston Post Road to the Gateway Shopping Center, new intersections will be created with crosswalks and signalization.
Westchester Crossing is broken down into five projects or phases, the first being the master developer which is set up for a 10-year Payment in Lieu of Taxes but may only take advantage of the sales and use tax and mortgage recording tax abatements.
The second is the Phase I residential housing which will receive a 20-year PILOT as well as sales and use tax and mortgage recording tax savings.
The same goes for the Phase II residential housing.
The fourth phase is the senior living which will also receive a 20-year PILOT and the other tax relief.
Phase five, the hotel, will get a 15-year PILOT plus sales, use and mortgage recording tax relief.
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