Strong Third Quarter for White Plains Single Family Homes.

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. October 18, 2012:

 

White Plains Single Family Home Closings for the third quarter of 2012 were up sharply — 41% more than the third quarter of 2011, and up 140% over the 2nd quarter of this year.

 

In July, August, and September, 72 homes sold compared to 51 in the same time period last year, according to Mike Graessle of the Better Homes and Gardens/ Rand Realty agency in White Plains.

 


The median selling price of a single family White Plains home closing in the third quarter was $637,125, up 9% from $585,000 a year ago– the average selling price $693,634 up 12%. Single Family homes closing in the third quarter stayed on the market about 6 months before selling.


 

Condominium sales were down 8% from last year’s third quarter, and down 34% from the second quarter of this year. The average selling price was down 35% to $388,873 compared to $592,844 in last year’s third quarter.

 


Co-ops faired better, sales up 16% from last year and 19% from the 2nd quarter of 2012. Co-op sale rices were up slightly, averaging $189,051, compared to $184,676 in the same quarter last year. The median sales price was down 6% to $168,500.

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Hudson Valley Employment Up 1% Year-to-Year. Education/Health Major Fields

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WPCNR LABOR WIRE. From the New York State Department of Labor. October 18, 2012:

 

For the 12-month period ending in September 2012, private sector employment in the Hudson Valley Region increased 7,000 or 0.9 percent. Employment gains were strongest in educational and health services (+6,300), followed by professional and business services (+2,800), trade, transportation and utilities (+2,500), financial activities (+1,200), and other services (+600).

 

Job losses were centered in the following industries: natural resources, mining and construction (-4,100), manufacturing (-1,800), and information (-600). The government sector shed 1,600 jobs over the year.

 

In September, the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester labor market area was the driving force behind total job growth in the region’s private sector. The lower Hudson valley area’s private sector employment grew by1.3 percent or 6,100 jobs, accounting for almost 90 percent of total jobs gained in the region. 

 

Overall, educational and health services, the region’s largest private sector employer has continued to perform well, expanding over the period by 3.4 percent or 6,300 jobs; its largest over the year increase since 1999. Meanwhile the region’s manufacturing sector recorded its largest over the year decline in nearly 2 ½ years, shedding 1,800 jobs or 3.7 percent of its workforce.

 

 

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County 2013 Outlook Bleak–Layoffs Possible if No Labor Concessions.

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Department of  Communications.(EDITED) October 18, 2012:


 


A month before the release of his proposed 2013 budget, County Executive Robert P. Astorino today reaffirmed his pledge not to raise county property taxes or raid the county’s reserve fund next year and appealed to the county’s employee unions to help him minimize layoffs by agreeing to contribute to the cost of their health care.


 


“Here is the stark reality: Our revenues do not keep pace with automatic spending increases,” Astorino said at a news conference where he described the challenges of balancing a budget that, without spending cuts, would have an $86 million hole next year due mainly to state-mandated costs that will go up automatically on Jan. 1. “The job before us is to figure out a responsible way to maintain services at a cost affordable to taxpayers.”


Astorino must submit his proposed 2013 budget to the Board of Legislators by Nov. 15. The board then has until Dec. 27 to adopt a final spending plan. Under county law, the budget must be balanced.


 


The Westchester Business Council issued a statement supporting the County Executive’s policy, saying:


 


“The Business Council of Westchester strongly supports County Executive Astorino’s call for serious and, if necessary, round the clock negotiations with the county’s largest unions. As today’s budget preview clearly demonstrates,county government is facing its own fiscal cliff. Failure to address the issues at hand jeopardizes the fragile economic recovery under way in Westchester. Fiscal uncertainty is not conducive to business stability and growth. It also sends the wrong message to businesses we need to attract to Westchester. We can ill afford to see our business base erode.


 


The time is clearly at hand to address headon the rapidly escalating cost of union healthcare benefits. Employees in the private sector have had to make sacrifices by contributing more to their health care benefits. It’s time for the county’s unions to make the concessions necessary to preserve their jobs and the fiscal health of the county. Raising taxes is not an option.


 


We support the County Executive’s fiscally responsible approach and his call to the largest unions to work with him.  Further, we urge the County Board of Legislators to adopt a balanced budget for 2013 with no fiscal gimmicks that would risk the County losing its AAA bond rating.”


           


 


Since taking office, Astorino has cut county spending by $100 million and the county property tax levy has been reduced by 2 percent.


            Plugging the $86 million shortfall could require as many as 800 layoffs, or a 16 percent reduction in the workforce. Astorino said such a number is unacceptable and he would propose some measures to bring it down. However, he said he would need help from the unions as well.  


            As he has done repeatedly, he urged the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), the Police Benevolent Association (PBA)  and the three other county unions (the Superior Officers of the PBA, the New York State Nurses Association and the District Attorney’s Investigators PBA) currently without contracts  to agree to his “jobs for savings” plan, where they pay a portion of their health care costs as a way to save jobs.


 



     


            Health care for employees cost the county about $120 million this year and is projected to increase to $125 million in 2013. Three other county unions have, through collective bargaining, already agreed to contribute to their health care: Teamsters Local 456, which represents middle-level management; the Correction Officers Benevolent Association (COBA); and the Corrections Superior Officers Association (SOA). Also, non-union managers at the county, including Astorino and his staff, have been paying for health care since Astorino instituted the reform shortly after taking office.


            Astorino said that the county and representatives of the CSEA – the county’s largest union with approximately 3,300  members –  will be meeting with a state mediator next week to try to resolve the contract. The CSEA’s last contract expired Dec. 31, 2011, and because of the state’s Triborough Amendment remains in effect until new terms are negotiated and ratified.  


             “I urge them to use all available resources and efforts to reach an agreement that preserves jobs and  services,” he said. “Layoffs hurt everybody. Health care contributions can provide significant savings, which can greatly reduce the number of layoffs we are facing.”


            County Legislator and Republican Minority Leader Jim Maisano of New Rochelle, speaking on behalf of his caucus, said: “It is the best interests of everyone in Westchester County that our unions settle contracts with health care contributions before a budget is submitted next month.” 


            In preparing his proposed budget for 2013, Astorino said that he was following the same approach that was adopted on a bipartisan basis with the Board of Legislators for the current budget:  No increase in the county property tax levy and no use of the unrestricted reserve fund.


            “Taxes are off the table,” he said. “We are already the highest taxed county in the country. Raiding the reserve fund is a non-starter because that would jeopardize our triple A credit ratings. If we are downgraded , our borrowing costs go up and running county government becomes more expensive. Our focus is on preserving the most essential services and bringing down costs to pay for them.”


            In addition to layoffs, Astorino said there were other options available to partially address the $86 million shortfall, but none of them are ideal. These include:


·        Departmental cuts –  Every department is looking at ways to reduce spending, but this inevitably means some service cuts.


·         Borrowing – The county can borrow to pay for pensions and tax certioraris (court-ordered property tax refunds), but the money has to be paid back with interest.


 


·        Discretionary spending – Also under review is the money the county spends to fund outside non-profit cultural and social agencies, such as libraries, museums and after-school programs.


            “The job is to determine – in an objective way – what are the most essential services and what are the smartest and least painful ways to pay for them,” Astorino said.  


            Driving the costs for next year are a variety of programs with automatic increases that will take place Jan. 1. These include:


·        The county’s share of Medicaid –  the federal and state mandated program to provide health care for the poor – will go up $8 million (to $224 million).


·        Employee pension costs would go up $12 million (to $91 million). This is a state mandate.


·        Employee health care would go up $5 million.


            These increases will not be offset by new or rising revenues. The county’s portion of the sales tax is projected to generate about 3 percent more next year  – but not a sufficient amount to offset the mandated costs in spending. State and federal aid is expected to be down slightly.


            Money raised from the county property tax will remain the same at $548 million, based on Astorino’s continued pledge that he will not raise the county property tax levy.


 


STATUS OF 2012 BUDGET


            In his review, Astorino also discussed the county’s current budget of $1.697 billion. With three months to go, Astorino said the county has a $15 million shortfall, which is less than 1 percent of the total budget.


            To close the gap by the end of the year, Astorino said he will limit any new hires, defer some spending and liquidate some departmental accounts that have surpluses at the end of the year.


            “There is work to do,” he said, “but I am confident that we can end the year with a balanced budget and that means a balanced budget without drawing down reserves.”


 

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Decision Reversing Bradley Conviction Centers on Judge’s Exclusion of Witnesses

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL FOR THE RECORD. October 18, 2012:


The decision of  Appellate Judges Ruth C. Balkin, Ariel E. Belen, L. Priscilla Hall and Robert J.Miller reversing the conviction of former Mayor Adam Bradley of White Plains, for attempted assault 3rd degree, harassment, 2nd degree,2 counts and criminal contempt, 2nd degree in a domestic dispute involving his wife– by a 3 to 1 decision issued Wednesday concludes that


“Upon reviewing the record here, we are statisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence. However, given the circumstances of this case, we conclude that the defendant was deprived of a fair trial.”


“…we conclude that the Supreme Court improperly precluded the defendent from adducing testimony which showed that his wife told others that the bedroom door was accidentally closed on her hand. The proffered testimony was in ‘substantial contradiction’ to his (Bradley’s) wife’s testimony that the defendent intentionally slammed the door on her hand and that she never told anyone that her hand had been caught in the bedroom door accidentally, and it was, therefore, sufficiently inconsistent to be relevant to the issue of the wife’s credibility. Furthermore, testimony as to whether the defendant’s wife told others that the bedroom door was accidentally closed on her hand was not related to a collateral matter at all, but rather, it went directly to the heart of the most contested aspect of the case — the defendant’s (Bradley’s) intent. Under the circumstances present here, the preclusion of such material and exculpatory evidence deprived the defendant of a fair trial. Accordingly, the judgments must be reversed and the matters remitted to thr Supreme Court, Westchester County, for a new trial.”


Presiding Judge Ruth Balkin dissented, writing, “The foundation necessary for impeachment of a witness by prior inconsistent statements on a material issue is straightforward and long settled. The impeaching party must first ask the witness if he or she made the prior statement. A general question about prior statements is not sufficient; the witness’s attention must be directed to the time and place of the prior statement, the person to whom it was made and the substance of it…If the witness denies or claims not to remember, having made the prior statement, the impeaching party may then present extrinsic evidence of it.”


“In this case, the defendant’s claim pertains to prior statements the complainant allegedly had made to three people, two civilians and a detective. On cross-examination, defense counsel asked the complainant whether she had ever told “anyone” that the incident on February 28th (2010) was an accident or whether she was not sure how it happened or was confused about what had happened. Defense counsel failed to specify the dates the complainant was alleged to have made these prior statements or to whom they were made. Thus the foundation for extrinsic evidence of the alleged prior inconsistent statements was inadequate. Therefore, contrary to the holding of my colleagues, the trial court did not err in precluding the defendant from eliciting, as (witness) impeachment evidence, testimony from the two civilians and the detective about the complainant’s alleged prior inconsistent statements.”


Judge Balkin’s written dissent also observed,


 “My colleagues hold that the evidence was admissable not only as impeachment of the complainant, but also as affirmative evidence that the defendant did not act intentionally. In other words, although the proffered evidence was admittedly hearsay, my colleagues hold that the defendant’s right to present a defense overrode the rules of evidence. I disagree. It is true in some circumstances the right to present a defense will override the hearsay rule. But those circumstances are rare, as examination of the cases cited by the majority makes clear; most of the reversals concerned erroneous exclusion of reliable hearsay evidence that another person had admitted committing the crime for which the defendant was on trial.(cites cases) None involved the situation presented here, that of a complaining witness who allegedly made prior statements inconsistent with material parts of her trial testimony. In this common situation, settled rules allow defendanyts to present extrinsic impeachment evidence after laying a proper foundation. But that extrinsic evidence is admissable so that the jury can properly evaluate the impeached witness’s trial testimony; it is not “proof of what happened.”  Fundamental as it is, the right to present a defense “does not give criminal defendants carte blanche to circumvent the rules of evidence.” (cites cases.)


The entire decision may be reviewed at www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2012/2012_06971.htm

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APPELLATE COURT OVERTURNS BRADLEY CONVICTION. DID NOT GET FAIR TRIAL COURT SAYS

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL.October 17, 2012 UPDATED October 18, 2012:


The New York State Appellate Court, 2nd Circuit in Brooklyn overturned the 2010 conviction of former White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley on charges of attempted assault,harassment and criminal contempt involving his wife.


In an interview with WPCNR Wednesday afternoon after the court reversed his conviction by a 3 to 1 decision, Adam Bradley told WPCNR he was “very happy, but there was still a lot more to come.”


Bradley told WPCNR the appellate court has ordered a new trial for him at a date to be set. Bradley hoped a different judge other than Judge Susan Capeci would be assigned to the case. Judge Capeci found Bradley guilty in the first trial which was a bench trial.


This time, if a new trial is called, Bradley told WPCNR it would be a jury trial and “a lot more documents would be presented, that I was not allowed to present last time. I was innocent then and I’m innocent now.”


Bradley said he is no longer on probation. He is free to travel outside of Westchester County and is free to practice law anywhere in the state.


Lucian Chalfen, D.A. spokesperson, issued this statement to WPCNR Thursday morning: “We are reviewing the court’s decision and will be making a determination on how we will proceed.”


Bradley noted that the District Attorney could choose not to retry him.


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City Sales Tax Receipts Down 6.7% In September. County Even With 2011

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. From the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. October 15, 2012: 


The White Plains sales tax receipts was $1,333,368 less than it collected in September, 2011, when it collected a record $5,007,305 Million in sales taxes. This year’s September yielded $3,859,558.93 a year to year decline of  22%. In the first three months of the White Plains fiscal year, the city has collected $11,913,187 in sales tax receipts compared to $12,781,706 in the first quarter of 2011-12, a decline of 6.7%.


Westchester County with three months to go in its fiscal year 2012, is dead even with 2011 collections, $345,257,075 to $344,400,000 last year.

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TRADITION CONTINUES FIDDLER PEDDLES TIMELESS TRUTHS ARTFULLY! LAUGHS,SCHMALTZ

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WPCNR ON THE AISLE. Theatrical Review by John F. Bailey. October 13, 2012:


 



 


The beginning moment: the exotic Fiddler,the magical, agile, light-on-his-feet,engaging-on-the-bow Andrew Mayer,(right) with the likable, laughable, lovable, Bill Nolte (left) bring Zero Mostel and Fiddler to life.  


 


As Nolte sung Tradition beginning Broadway’s 9-Tony award-winning musical , Fiddler on the Roof, at Westchester Broadway Theatre Opening Night, the classic cast the spell it always has from first note to last whether you are seeing it for the first time or many times.


 


 



 


Bill Nolte as Tevye in the Zero Mostel role, gives an  opening explanation of Tradition starting  you off and never lets you stop living and enjoying, suffering, and experiencing life for all its moments. (Photos Courtesy, Westchester Broadway Theatre by John Vechiolla)


 


Set in a little Russian village in 1905 (that could be 2005) portraying the conflict of one generation to the next and the sufferings of all oppressed people,  “Fiddler” so connects with its audience, it made Zero Mostel a star. “Fiddler” musically preserves the struggle of life from a Jewish perspective. The “Fiddler” songs in just the first act still touch every parent’s heart.



 


To Life!


 


The Inn scene where Nolte as Teyve and the men of the village sing To Life (L’Chaim) to celebrate Teyve’s  assenting to give his daughter Tzeitel’s hand in marriage to the much-older butcher (Eric Johnson) though Tzeitel has her cap set for the tailor in the village, who does not have the courage to ask Teyve for her hand. Mr. Johnson and Nolte make give joyous meaning to the toast L’chaim. This is easily the happiest number in a show that has all that life has in store, drudgery, joy, hope, achievement, heartbreak, courage, it is all here in Fiddler.


 


Bill Nolte plays Tevye as Zero Mostel played him, a swaggering,bigger-than-life, everyman character whose masterly performance nobly recalls Mr. Mostel’s master-timing of jokes, deadpans, eyebrow rolls and asides and evokes the sense of bewilderment and pain, ability to muddle and endure the inevitable pain of life.


 


Guests at the wedding of Tevye’s daughter reflect in Sunrise, Sunset on how daughters (and sons) leave to start lives on their own. There’s Nolte’s whimsical tour de force delivering If I were a Rich Man,  


To set the scene for you: it is 1905 Russia  where Jews are afflicted by a labor movement, strikes and resentment gripping all of Russia that lead to pogroms against Jewish towns and enclaves by the Czar and Nationalist groups. Jewish groups had suffered from the Czar’s May Laws restricting Jews from immigrating to Russia, when Jewish labor groups were blamed for the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1882.


In May 1882, the Czar introduced temporary regulations called May Laws lasting 30 years until 1917. Policies of discrimination, limits on the number of Jews allowed to obtain education and professions caused widespread poverty and mass emigration. In 1886, Jews were expelled from Kiev. Communities of Jews were removed by Czarist forces and nationalist groups alike. “Fiddler” plays out in this atmosphere of  persecution and ethnic cleansing of that time.



Tzeitel (Rachel Prather, left) starts a trend, with Teyve’s other two daughters, Hodel (Sarah Rolleston)(center) and Chava (Donna Glaus)(right each falling in love with a radical young man and a young man not of the Jewish faith. Here the three sisters sing Matchmaker, Matchmaker in Act One.All three deliver their integral cameo romances with believable pathos and longing — all the emotions love is. 




Tevye convinces his wife,  Golde (played with comic seriousness by Emily Zacharias,left, above) that Grandma Tzeitel came to him in a dream predicting that Tzeitel should marry the tailor.The dream sequence wonderfully lit by Andrew Gmoser, is a farce of husbandly storytelling.  Does Golde buy it? What do you think? Nolte and Zacharias also sing a touching duet in Act II, Do You Love Me? I enjoyed this amusing yet poignant portrayal of mystery of marriage.


 



The musical presents a history lesson of the faith and traditions of the Jewish people, as Teyve works through his daughter Tzeitel (wanting to marry Motel a poor tailor, and not the butcher that matchmaker Yente (Terry Palasz) has selected for her.  Tzeitel played with earnest, believable longing  by Rachel Prather (left), prevails on him to give his permission. She sings a marvelous, touching ode to young love conquering all with Motel, her tailor, Miracle of Miracles.


 Boza and Prather make a winning couple– Boza as Motel is the picture of the infatuated desperate young man, and Prather the lovestruck, determined spirit of youth fighting tradition. They make a great couple.



Act One concludes with the joyous wedding scene featuring the bottle dance…only to end in chaos, as czarist authorities disrupt the ceremony boding troubles to come – that unfold in the second act.


The second act ends with the uplifting spirit of people everywhere who endure and survive. An outstanding song is song by  Sarah Rolleston’s Hodel. She breaks your heart as she sings of her new life with the young man she has chosen to follow taking her Far From the Home I Love.


A viewer who saw the second night performance told this critic, she felt it was the best production she had ever seen at Westchester Broadway Theatre.


Fiddler plays until November 25, then returns to WBT, January 5. For more information on tickets call (914) 592-2222, or go to www.broadwaytheatre.com.


To Fiddler!

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County Exec Names Local Sustainable Playland to run Playland Next 10 Years

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WPCNR County Clarion-Ledger, By John F. Bailey. October 11, 2012 UPDATED 6:05 P.M. October 12, 2012:


 County Executive Robert P. Astorino named Sustainable Playland, a locally organized, but highly mobilized non-profit group as his choice to run Playland for the next ten years, starting next year, if the Board of Legislators approves the contract.


The group will (according to the Letter of Intent signed today by Mr. Astorino and Dhruy Narain, President of Sustainable), pay the county an upfront payment of $4 Million and $1.2 Million a year beginning in 2014. This is a total of guaranteed revenue to the county of about $15 Million dollars for exclusive rights to the 100-acre Playland complex.


Sustainable Playland will hire Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, headed by the executive who revitalized Bryant Park in New York, to oversee the operation of the property. Revenues from vendors and developers agreeing to run the concessions, restaurants and attractions envisioned will fund the county payments. 


The Sustainable payments to the county will be used, Astorino said to pay down the $32 Million the county owes on bonds outstanding on Playland, and will result in $18 Million in savings in debt and interest. The county retains ownership of the land.


Sustainable, for its part, promises $34 Million in capital improvements to the park, to be paid for by outside developing companies who will be responsible for the profit or loss of the operations.


Narain said the park will be open in 2013, that there will no longer be a general admission fee (now $35 per person). Patrons will be charged only for rides.  Narain told WPCNR there will be parking fees, but Narain said the parking charges had not been worked out at this time, but assured me the parking fees would not be a factor in inhibiting attendance.


 The proposal includes an Acqua Park that will replace the swimming pool behind the bathouses, an indoor field house and outdoor playing field to be built on the present parking area; retention of the historic Playland promenade and historic rides including the Dragon Coaster and the Carousel, and KiddyLand. A winter outdoor ice rink will be built. The Ice Casino will be renovated on its second floor to accommodate public functions like weddings(upstairs rinks will be eliminated.). Some new rides will be brought in and some non-historical rides will go.


It was not clear whether old  attractions on the midway (fun houses like The Witch House, the Hall of Mirrors) would be retained unless they were historical landmark-designated.


Apparently there is no “review” authority  at county level to approve or disprove suggestions for rides and attractions to be eliminated. Sustainable will run the park and make all the decisions.


 A great lawn would be established alongside Long Island Sound.


Astorino said in a response to a question by WPCNR how long it would take to put in all the proposals, he said he hoped less than three years. No specific timetable was laid out.


County Legislator Bill Ryan of White Plains told WPCNR that any contract was definitely an Agreements and Contracts Committee matter for approval, but the Board of  Legislators has to approve sending any contract to the Contracts committee. Ryan said the legislature had to take a close look at the proposal.


 

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City Center Sold to Chi Trust. Cappelli Retains Interest. Loans Paid Off

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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL By John F. Bailey. October 10, 2012 UPDATED 9:43 A.M. EDT: NEW EDITION UPDATE 3:22 P.M. E.DT. UPDATED October 11, 2012:

Developer Louis R. Cappelli has sold his company’s majority interest in City Center in downtown White Plains to a real estate investment trust based in suburban Chicago, while retaining a minority interest, a CB Richard Ellis spokesperson told WPCNR.

The buyer is identified as  Inland Diversified Real Estate Trust, Inc., of Chicago. 

Alyson Leiter of  Great Ink Communications, speaking for CB Richard Ellis, said in a statement to WPCNR,

“Basically, Mr. Cappelli sold his majority interest in the property to Inland, but he still retains a minority interest (in the form of two subsidiaries, White Plains Retail L.L.C. and White Plains Recreation LLC, each an affiliate of Cappelli Enterprises).

“The new joint venture ownership of Inland (majority interest) and Cappelli (minority interest) valued the City Center at $166.4 Million. The sales price isn’t disclosed in the press release.

Since Mr. Cappelli is still the minority holder, I assume the City Center Parking Garage is still owned by him, But I am confirming this.”

Thursday morning, John Callahan, the White Plains city Corporation Counsel in a written statement to WPCNR, wrote “Nothing relating to the ownership or operation of the garage has changed.”

The terms of the transaction according to the Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission are very complex. Inland Diversified has taken out a $99 Million loan from Bank of America (cash proceeds of $87 Million) and $42.4 Million of their own cash. The 8-K reports Inland will use the $139.4 Million to pay off Mr. Cappelli’s first mortgage on the property of $124.6 Million, maturing on October 7, 2016, and $4.8 million to repay a second loan Cappelli Enterprises holds from New York State Urban Development Corporation. The remaining $10.4 Million is going to pay “preformation expenditures and closing costs.”

The 8-K  states that “management of the property will be the sole responsibility of Inland White Plains. Inland Diversified Real Estate Services, LLC has been appointed by Inland White Plains (subsidiary of  Inland Diversified)to serve as property manager of the Property and will be paid a 4.5% annual fee.”

Complex finanical distributions to the majority and minority partners are described in the 8-K


 

City Hall has not answered WPCNR’s question as to whether Mr. Cappelli retains the parking garage. The air rights and the New York Sports Club and 24 apartments atop the garage ownership has been sold to Inland according to the CB Richard Ellis news release. (Cappelli Enterprises presently receives revenues from the parking garage up to $600,000 and invests the excess in garage maintenance.)

No connection, but the surprise deal comes after the city of White Plains  recently increased assessed value of the complex through to 2019, by $300,000 a year, after the original Payment In Lieu of Taxes Agreement with the city expires in January 2016. The extension of PILOT agreement means that the new buyer and the new minority interest will not be reassessed until the year 2019.

Councilman John Martin is the only city official to comment on whether or not the city knew Mr. Cappelli was in the process of selling majority interest when the city agreed to extend the assessment incrementally beginning in 2016.

Mr. Martin,wrote WPCNR today: I do not believe that the sale was made known at the time we amended the PILOT but also don’t think it would have changed anything. The decision remains valid based on the marketplace for large leasehold space.

The original news release from CB Richard Ellis follows: 

Jeffrey Dunne, Steven Bardsley and David Gavin of CBRE Group Inc.’s New York Institutional Group represented LC White Plains Retail, LLC, and LC White Plains Recreation, LLC, affiliated entities of Cappelli Group, Inc., in arranging the joint venture majority interest sale of City Center Retail in White Plains, NY. The team was also responsible for procuring the new joint venture partner, whose parent company is Inland Diversified Real Estate Trust, Inc. The new joint venture valued the center at $166.4 million.


 


City Center is a 381,905± square-foot, grocery-anchored, trophy mixed-use retail and apartment property located in the heart of downtown White Plains. The property is fully leased and anchored by a high profile tenant mix, including ShopRite Supermarkets, Toys ‘R Us (estimated occupancy March 2013), Nordstrom Rack, National Amusements (15-screen theater), Barnes & Noble and New York Sports Club. The Center is shadow-anchored by a 154,241±sq.-ft. Target P-Fresh store, which was not included in the sale. The sale included 99-year air rights over the parking garage, which houses the New York Sports Club and 24 fully leased, in-demand residential apartment units.


 


City Center’s epicenter location, with frontage on Main Street, Martine Avenue and Mamaroneck Avenue, is surrounded by several recently developed apartment and condominium projects totaling more than 1,000 units, including The Residences at the Ritz Carlton and Trump Tower at City Center. With population growth of more than 15% since 2000 within a one-mile radius and average household incomes of nearly $140,000 within five miles, City Center will continue to be a primary shopping and entertainment destination. 



Mr. Dunne commented: “City Center will provide the new partnership with stable in-place income due to anchor tenants’ long-term leases, while providing upside through contractual rent increases. The significant foot traffic generated as a result of ShopRite opening last year will be further enhanced by Toys ‘R Us opening at the Center in the spring of 2013.”


 



 

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Teachers and School District Negotiators Hammer Out Agreement on New Contract

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. October 9, 2012 UPDATED OCTOBER 10, 2012 11:15 A.M.: 


Dr. Christopher Clouet, Superintendent of Schools, did not provide any further information on the possibility of an immediate settlement in a new contract with the teachers union this morning. He issued this statement when asked if the Board of Education had arrived at any position on the contract:


“Regarding executive session last night – there is nothing to report, but we remain hopeful.” 


The President of the White Plains Teachers Association, Kerry Broderick, told WPCNR Tuesday night that her teachers union negotiators and the school district have reached a Memorandum of Agreement on a new contract for 2012-13, pending ratification by the teacher union membership.


As the meeting closed, Board President Rosemarie Eller asked for a vote to go into Executive Session, without explaining the purpose of the Session, a practice long in effect. Carl Albanese politely confronted Superintendent of  Schools Dr. Christopher Clouet, pointing out to him by law the district could not do that without explaining the purpose of the executive session. Clouet said, to discuss the White Plains Teachers Association.


Ms. Broderick told WPCNR she would release the MOA tomorrow after she had distributed the tentative agreement to her membership.


Previously the teachers union had rejected a mediator-suggested settlement, by a 52%-48% margin. Broderick at that time, said the next step would be fact-finding with a mediator, which would require extensive disclosure of financial positions of both sides.


It is unclear whether the MOA the School Board is considering in executive session is an improvement in the offer to the teachers.


 

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