WPCNR THE PLANNING NEWS. By John F. Bailey. March 21, 2007. UPDATED WITH PIX OF CONDOMINIUM DESIGNS 2 PM: At the Tuesday evening Planning Board Meeting, two preliminary plans for approximately 20-to 30 unit condominiums in the Battle Hill area were presented and there is a possibility of a third condo targeted for Chatterton Parkway that would help pay for creation of the long-awaited Veterans Memorial Park. The peripatetic developer, Frank Cantatore and his DeKalb Development Corporation presented plans to expand his condominium town houses by 12 units at the White Plains Scarsdale Gateway.
The North Street Community went over details of their Senior Housing Complex Senior Residency Zone approved last month by the Common Council for the former St. Agnes Hospital Property. The Planning Board asked numerous questions on routing of traffic through the site, and requested sight line drawings portraying how the 335-unit condominium senior residence would look from neighboring sites.
The condo details:
It was emphasized by the Commissioner of Planning that the Carvel Children’s Rehabilitation Center on the site, because it was a “community needed facility,” could not be recaptured by North Street Community, should it ever cease operations. Susan Habel said the North Street Community partners would under terms of the new zoning district have to find another tenant performing a community needed service for the facility – or seek a new zoning of the Carvel property – before they could seek to add it to the complex.
Presenters for the North Street Community said they were working on plans now for presentation in about a month or so. North Street Community is not on the Common Council agenda as of yet for April to seek approval of the project – though the zoning change they requested, creation of a senior citizen residency district was approved this month – all but assuring approval of the project.
The details on the condominiums:
The White Plains land magnate, Juan Camacho’s group, Harmon Associates, presented preliminary plans to revitalize the Harmon Avenue blighted area – where a recent rape occurred in a vacant house – with a 29-unit condominium complex overlooking a strip of green parkland stretching alongside Route 119 – the western gateway to the city.
The five story complex would offer 29 units, with parking situated behind the building. It would rise on the North side of Harmon Avenue and overlook Route 119, and remove several vacant houses now occupying the site. No price point has been set on the units. Planning Board was positive about the project, reservations were expressed about a fence that was planned to shield the parking at the rear of the building from the “parkland” below. This display shows how the complex would look on Harmon Avenue, and how the present location looks now.
The view from Route 119 is shown in the lower strip, and the proposed fencing for the rear of the Harmon Avenue Condoplex.
Overview of the Proposed Site. Top of picture is the park adjacent Route 119.
Gateway II on Harding and Central
The second condominium complex introduced was a project called Gateway II, a five story residential condominium and retail-restaurant complex of 15 2-bedroom condos, a restaurant and retail fronting on Central Avenue which would occupy the site currently where Fabric House stands at 239 Central Avenue. The Planning Board pointed out that the complex had to find offsite parking or make parking arrangements elsewhere or develop shared parking in order to comply with parking for the restaurant-retail operations, because they could not “inherit” parking from Fabric House. The parking for Fabric House does not actually exist physically. It is believed they make shared arrangements with other surrounding businesses.
Gateway II — Design for 50 foot high condominium, retail and restaurant condoplex for the corner of Central Avenue and Harding Avenue, which would replace the Fabric House, which would be demolished.
The Overview of Gateway II: Parking lot is shaded in gray; Building is in brown.Harding Avenue is to the left.
Mystery Condo-Veteran Park Concept
Meanwhile, according to Patti Cantu, the President of the Battle Hill Neighborhood Association, the Mayor of White Plains, Joseph Delfino, Councilman Glen Hockley and Executive Officer Paul Wood presented a third Battle Hill development to her association about a month ago in a private meeting.
According to Ms. Cantu, “I brought a few people together, you know we have been working towards a veterans’ park for years, and this was a way would get funding for the park. We are looking at this as an option. A developer, represented by a Mr. Limingello from the Gateway Condominiums who proposed building condominiums in the vicinity and would donate money for construction of the Memorial Park. I looked at it as a way to get funding.”
Cantu said no concrete plans had been presented, and said the Association was considering it as “an option” to fund the park, that was all.
WPCNR has heard that Mr. Wood traveled to Albany to investigate how the city could arrange to demap a portion of parkland to execute that project, a call to city hall to confirm this has been made.
Marching up Post Road
A third mini-condominium project is an extension of the townhouses built on Post Road by Frank Cantatore, White Plains hometown developer. Mr. Cantatore jump-started the White Plains boom by building Clayton Park, the first step in the highly touted “White Plains Renaissance,” through his spokesperson, Jeffrey Binder presented an expansion of Mr. Cantatore’s townhouses on Post Road started at approximately 313 to 311 West Post Road.
Cantatore proposes building 6 townhouse condominiums units that would house 12 units, including 6 duplexes which would market for approximately $550,000 to slightly over $600,000; 3 1 Bedroom units which would price from the low $200,000 to mid-2’s; and 6 studios priced from $160,000 to $175,000. Binder said the previous townhouses had been very successful, and that the duplex concept was a new wrinkle in townhouse development.
