THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR | 2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR. HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.White PlainsCitizeNetReporter lifted its worldwide visits from unique visitors to wpcnr.com to 8,324,077,a 1,306,419 increase in visits in one year from 7,017,658 visits to the site last year which covers White Plains and Westchester County. The 8,324,077 visits were made by 2,005,611 unique visitors who visited wpcnr an average of 3 visits a day. ON JULY 20- -2026 visitors have accessed wpcnr and made 3,072 visits an average of 1.6 visits. In the last week 33,495 individual vistors made 54,458 visits, averaging 1.6 visits. In the last month, 152,940 visitors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)

Common Council To Raise Parking Rates, Water Rates, Approves French Market Op

Posted on March 25, 2004 by John Bailey

WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER BRIEFS March 24, 2004: Wednesday evening in addition to the Kids City and Louis Cappelli buzz, the Common Council agreed to raise Parking Rates, Water Rates, (details to come in future stories) and approved Bensidoun USA as the operator of the French Market at $1,000 a year, with no futher financial details disclosed. The Council also agreed to raise the amount of the Downtown Business Improvement Association assessment of member businesses from $400,000 to $450,000, raising the BID Budget overall to $500,000. John Martin said the BID receives the extra $50,000 in donations.

The Council said it was reviewing the Draft Findings Statement on the Cappelli Hotel Project.

Mr. Cappelli updated the Council on the status of the City Center South Tower, saying he would begin construction again Monday and complete the South Tower building and the Loft Condominum by June 1, 2005. He said he would be opening a sales office for the condominums next to sales office in the North Tower. He said his crews had been laying power under the City Center Garage to deliver the power to run his construction crane to proceed with the South Tower the last week.

The Council wrapped up the action at 11:40 P.M., after Joseph Nicoletti advised the council that the city spent $300,000 over their snow budget ($500,000) this winter. Half of the $300,000 was for salt, another $100,000 for overtime, and the balance asphalt and chemicals. They postponed their Executive Session until another day.

Super Developer Splits Hotel into 2 towers; Ponders Biz to Res Switch

Posted on March 25, 2004 by John Bailey

WPCNR Common Council Chronicle-Examiner. By John F. Bailey. March 24, 2004: Louis Cappelli walked into the Common Council with a new design for the Cappelli Hotel project Wednesday evening, and received a tentative o.k. to prepare a site plan from a Common Council, which wants an overhead view of his striking three tower design at site plan stage. The new design incorporates open space at street level between the hotel and Grace Church and creates open space greenery and pools, and amenities on the roof of the hotel and connecting space, presenting a cleaner, graceful, less dense presentation with a panache of excellence.

21st CENTURY CAPPELLI: The Triple Towers. There are three towers. The Bar Building is at center of picture. You are viewing the corner of Main Street and the Church Street extension. Photo by WPCNR News.

Cappelli said his new architects, Donald Trump’s architects of choice, Costis, Kondylis, had come up with a new design separating the condominium portion of the hotel-condoplex into two distinct towers. They appear slimmer, all modern glass. The third tower, the business headquarters, he also plans to be similar in design to the condo towers atop the hotel. In between the two marching condo towers and also between the middle tower and the office tower would be rooftop open space amenities of greenery and swimming pools. Cappelli said the surfaces of the towers would be glass and granite, and be “completely new look completely different from the City Center, completely 21^st Century in every way.”

The Super Developer said he was going to apply for a Demolition Permit within 30 Days, and upon expected approval in May, looked to demolition the abandoned buildings between the Bar Building and Grace Church, put up an aesthetic construction fence, to begin construction in June, and then he would “start digging a hole, because we need something else to do.”

The Mayor joking said of The Bar Building that is adjacent to the impending demolition, “Please don’t weaken the foundation. (of the Bar Building).”

Everyone laughed nervously.

Mr. Cappelli noted that he is entertaining the possibility of turning the business portion of the project into a condominium tower, too. In the bustling Mayor’s reception area, afterwards. Director of Planning, Susan Habel said Cappelli would have to file a Long Form Environmental Assessment, which would include a traffic plan, environmental, and infrasture (including sewer) impact assessment before the building could be changed to residential.

Downtown Crossing Courts Kids City, Leading Mexico Theme Destination

Posted on March 25, 2004 by John Bailey

WPCNR Common Council Chronicle-Examiner. By John F. Bailey. March 24, 2004: A forty minute presentation by Ruben Cors, Chief Operating Officer of la ciudad de los ninos of Mexico City, his popular Kids City combination childrens’ amusement center in the Mexico City “Santa Fe Mall” held the Common Council spellbound Wednesday evening. Senor Cors is ready to invest $30 Million with Leon Silverman of Silverman realty to construct a Kids City Pavilion on one floor of the Silverman and Minskoff Grant block along Mamaroneck Avenue opposite the City Center. Silverman is seeking other partner investors for a sports academy and a major retail component for the other two floors.

INTERNATIONAL VISITOR: Ruben Coors Gil presents masterfully, enthusiastically to the Common Council Wednesday evening. Photo by WPCNR News

La ciudad de los ninos, Cors’ company, is willing to make White Plains the first United States location for the next million-visitor-a-year center which features a mini city built to kids’ size indoors on approximate 80,000 square feet of the Silverman property which wraps around Mamaroneck Avenue and Quarropas Streets. The design concept has yet to be created. Wednesday evening’s event was to see if the Common Council would buy in to the idea before planning and development money was spent, said Mark Weingarten, attorney for the Silverman Realty Group.

COLORFUL SLIDES DEFINED WHAT KIDS CITY IS: Kids enter, “fly” to a destination, enter scale-down replicas of buildings where they participate as adults would in making a living activities, such as operations. Photo by WPCNR News.

Cors predicts his center, open 10 A.M. to 3 P.M., originally intended to go into the Palisades Mall in Rockland County, will bring 900,000 visitors to White Plains a year, that works out to 2,400 visitors a day to the White Plains downtown. Tony Nardozzi (of Silverman Realty Group) said more of those visitors would probably come on the weekends. Cors plans to charge $25 for Children and $18 per Adult (since it is a Kids City), and parking would be built on site underground on the Silverman block under the former Woolworth’s store.

Tony Nardozzi, a Silverman partner, told WPCNR that Silverman is attempting to finance the project by assembling investor/tenants to construct and apparently own each floor of the three-story Downtown Crossing project, originally pitched to the Common Council last fall.

Cors is the first investor to be attracted. Terms of Mr. Cors’ engagement did not come up in the discussion in the hasty news conference after the presenatation. Mark Weingarten, of DelBello, Donnellan & Weingarten, attorney for Silverman, said other investor developer partners were being pursued. Downtown Crossing is seeking to attract a major retail anchor for the first floor and a sports academy for the third floor.

Cors said he did not have an idea yet when the project would be completed speculating it was at least three years away.

Kids City opened at the Santa Fe Mall in Mexico City in 1999. Santa Fe is a district of 8 million people outside Mexico City. Kids City in the Santa Fe Mall has the capacity of over 1,800 visitors at one time, and features 42 pavilions, consisting of kid-scale models of typical city establishments, such as a hospital, television station, fire department, government buildings, etc. It is a runaway success.

Kids Cityt attracted 762,000 visitors in its first year, when Mr. Cors had projected 400,000, In 2000, it attracted 789,000, and in 2001 it had reaced 830,000 visitors a year. In a metropolitan area of 20 million people. Westchester County has 9 million residents but with potential to draw from New Jersey, New York City, Connecticut and Long Island. At the Santa Fe Mall, the most trafficked mall in Latin America, Kids City attracts school groups booked 3 to 5 months in advance, and receives a lot of repeat business.

Named “the Best New Business” by Expansion Magazine, in 1999, the leading business magazine in Mexico, it now seeks its first U.S.A. operation, and has picked White Plains. Kids City was also winner of the 2001 Best New Theme Park by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA).

MR. CORS’ PRESENTATION set a new standard of enthusiasm and fact presentation, with slides and a 10 minute movie. It is easily the best developer pitch delivered to the Common Council since yours truly has covered the council (five years). The media kit shown above, given each Councilman included DVD, sample credit card, CD, and play money children are given to “spend” in the Kids City pavilion. Photo by WPCNR News

The council gave a consensus swell of enthusiasm which means that planning for the project will now begin, according to Weingarten.

County Golf Courses Open Friday

Posted on March 24, 2004 by John Bailey

WPCNR COUNTY TRAILS. From the Westchester County Department of Recreation and Parks. (Edited) March 24, 2004: The five Westchester County-owned golf courses will open for the season on Friday, March 26, weather and conditions permitting, with several new programs to make golf more accessible and enjoyable for patrons, County Parks Commissioner Joseph Stout has announced.

According to Stout, a new Frequent Golfer Rewards program and savings for Westchester residents who purchase a County Park Pass for the first time are just the newest enhancements that golfers can enjoy. In addition, convenient, online tee-time reservations will be available later this season.

“We continually strive to make golfing more enjoyable for our customers,” Stout said. “The new programs are part of our long-term commitment to enhance services, improve conditions and to keep golf affordable and accessible.”

The county courses nearest White Plains are Sprain Lake, Maple Moor in White Plains, and Saxon Woods in Scarsdale. Other courses are Dunwoodie in Yonkers and Mohansic in Yorktown Heights. Tee time reservations are now available by calling (914) 995-GOLF. The newest county course, Hudson Hills in the Town of New Castle, is slated for opening in mid- to late April.

FREQUENT GOLFER REWARDS

Stout said that the new Frequent Golfer Rewards program will debut this season. The program will enable golfers who hold a Westchester County Park Pass to earn points that can be redeemed for discounts on greens fees. Golfers who play at any of the course will be automatically enrolled in the program. After they reach a specified dollar-value plateau, they will receive a percentage discount on every subsequent round of golf they play. Details and start date are available at the courses.

Back by popular demand, golfers can play the back nine for an hour in the morning. Back nine times will be scheduled for 30 minutes after the first group of golfers begins play on the front nine. For County Park Pass holders, the rate is $21 weekends and $18 weekdays ($14 for seniors and junior golfers ages 11-18). The back-nine rate for non-park pass holders is $23 weekends or weekdays.

Golf Leagues & E-Z Reserve

Golf leagues will once again enable groups to utilize late afternoon tee times on weekdays at a reduced nine-hole rate. Each league must consist of a minimum of eight players, with substitutions allowed. Tee times will be scheduled between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., and league play will take place once a week for a period of 10 weeks during June, July and August. The fee is $360 per golfer, which covers greens fees and mandatory cart rental for the period. For more information about golf leagues, call (914) 864-7133.

The E-Z Reserve block tee-time sales program continues this year. The program allows foursomes of Westchester County-resident golfers to pre-pay to reserve a regular weekend tee-time slot for 25 weeks during the season at Maple Moor, Mohansic, Saxon Woods and Sprain Lake golf courses. At Dunwoodie, where construction on tees and greens is scheduled to begin this fall, EZ-Reserve covers a shortened, 20-week season. Priced at $250 per player ($200 per player at Dunwoodie), some EZ Reserve slots are still available at each course. Those interested should inquire at the course; EZ Reserve slots are not sold via the telephone reservation system.

County Park Passes

There’s extra incentive for Westchester resident golfers to take advantage of the lower resident greens fees this season, with a new offer that allows them to purchase a Westchester County Park Pass (required for resident rates) at $10 off the face value, or $35. New park pass applicants can pick up their $10 coupon at any course when applying for the pass. Passes, which are now valid for three years from date of issue (six years for senior citizens and disabled residents), also provide access to all county-owned park facilities and provides other discounts on park user and parking fees. Park passes will be issued at all five courses, seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. throughout the season. For more information about park passes, including other issuing locations and required proofs of residency, call (914) 864-PARK or log on to www.westchestergov.com/parks.

Greens Fees

Greens fees for 2004 are $23 weekdays and $27 Saturdays, Sundays and holidays for Westchester residents with a valid County Park Pass. Senior citizens with the pass pay $16 Monday through Friday. The fee for junior golf is $16, available weekdays only to park pass holders ages 11 through 18. Twilight golf is $18 with a county park pass. Twilight golf hours vary throughout the year, and golfers can call (914) 995-GOLF for updated information. Greens fees for non-park pass holders and non-county residents are $37 on weekends and holidays, $33 on weekdays, and $23 for twilight golf.

Holidays for 2004 are Memorial Day (Monday, May 31), Fourth of July (Sunday, July 4), and Labor Day (Monday, September 6).

Reservations

Reservations can be made by calling (914) 995-GOLF. Golfers who wish to play during the first two hours of operation can still make their reservations in person at each course seven days in advance of the play date. Any unreserved tee times for those first two hours will then be made available through the telephone system at 7 p.m. each evening. As an added convenience, walk up reservations will now be listed in the automated system, so golfers can modify or confirm their reservations as necessary. Golfers who do not have a touch-tone telephone or have difficulty making a reservation can receive assistance by calling the Golf Helpline, Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at (914) 864-7050.

Reservations, whether made in person or by phone, are accepted up to seven days in advance for county park pass holders and up to four days in advance without a park pass. There is a $3 reservation fee for non-park pass holders only.

Each of the five Westchester County golf courses is equipped with lockers, showers, a restaurant and a halfway house, golf shop and golf professional. Driving ranges are located at Dunwoodie and Mohansic.

For more information about the county’s golf courses and for a complete list of 2004 tournaments, call the Parks Department at (914) 864-7000. For general information about county parks, log on to www.westchestergov.com.