New Rochelle, N.Y. : new tower planned

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by patrick10801

A subway extended to New Rochelle will take you about an hour into the GCT.

And about 50 years to get built, if recent history is any indication...

[NYguy]

A 28-page White Plains special in the Daily News
http://www.print2webcorp.com/news/ny...060924/p01.asp

[NYguy]

Journal News

White Plains welcomes 44-story towers


By RICHARD LIEBSON
THE JOURNAL NEWS



Rita Santos, who works for the city of White Plains, takes a photo from
the 41st floor of the Renaissance Tower in White Plains.


WHITE PLAINS — The city put on the Ritz yesterday in a lavish "topping-off"
ceremony to celebrate completion of the skeletal top floor of the Ritz-Carlton
Westchester hotel and condominium project being built by developer Louis
Cappelli.

At 44 stories reaching almost 500 feet into the sky, the mammoth
Mamaroneck Avenue structure is said to be the tallest building between New
York City and Boston.

"It's way, way up there," said Marcus Grimes, as cast members of the
upcoming Broadway musical "The Times They Are A-Changin' " sang Bob Dylan tunes
in nearby Fountain Park during the celebration. "You know it's
going to be expensive."

Cappelli's $400 million Renaissance Square project will feature two luxury
condo towers with the hotel in the middle. The complex also will house
meeting spaces, a health spa, a swimming pool and upscale restaurants.
Renaissance Square is expected to open in 2008.

"It's just extraordinary to see the change in this great capital of
Westchester," Gov. George Pataki said during brief remarks on the 41st floor,
where VIPs and reporters gathered to gawk at views of Manhattan, Long
Island Sound, the Palisades and other landmarks.

Glancing toward the southeast, one could see the 39-story Trump Plaza
under construction by Cappelli and Donald Trump in New Rochelle that was
until yesterday the tallest building in Westchester County. New Rochelle, like
White Plains, is in the midst of a development boom, with several other
skyscrapers being planned and the AvalonBay Communities project under construction.

Cappelli "is rebuilding the downtowns of some of our oldest communities —
White Plains, New Rochelle and soon, Yonkers — bringing life and
excitement," Pataki said. "This is an example of smart growth."

Mayor Joseph Delfino pointed out that Renaissance Square is the latest in a
series of retail, business and residential projects that have reshaped the city's downtown
in the past six years. Those include Cappelli's City Center
with its movies and stores, a Stop & Shop supermarket, a Fortunoff and
Trump Tower condominiums.

"Today we celebrate the changing times of the city of White Plains," Delfino
said. "I can't help but feel a sense of satisfaction and excitement. The Ritz-
Carlton adds a rich level of sophistication to our city."

Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano apparently agreed, saying
before the ceremony that the five-star hotel "fills a tremendous niche in Westchester."

"We have some tremendous hotels here already, but business executives I
talk to say that the Ritz Carlton really raises the bar and fills a need," he said.

Cappelli said his developments in White Plains and New Rochelle have
attracted $1.4 billion in private investments in the
past four years. He said that would not have been possible without the cooperation of state and local
governments and agencies.

"This is a very important day for me because this is the most ambitious
project I've done. The building is going up and it's starting to sell," he said
before the ceremony, adding that about $30 million worth of luxury condo
space in the new tower has been sold with no advertising and before
yesterday's official opening of the sales office.

Simon F. Cooper, president and chief executive officer of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company,
said the White Plains development was "the product of
(Cappelli's) dream and vision."

"White Plains was certainly not big on Ritz-Carlton's agenda" before Cappelli
persuaded the company to sign on to the project, Cooper said.

"We're thrilled to be part of the renaissance of White Plains," he said, "and
we still strive to become an integral part of the community. If we're not
serving the community, then we're not doing our job."

__________________________________________________________

About the Ritz-Carlton Westchester

Location: The building towers over Main Street and Mamaroneck Avenue.

Hotel: Luxury accommodations featuring 123 rooms, 10,000-square-foot spa
and fitness center, and 10,000 square feet of meeting and special events
space.

Restaurants: A two-story restaurant fronting on Main Street and a rooftop
restaurant with views of Manhattan.

Residences: 44-story luxury tower with 181 condos and 32 furnished suites.
The condos range from 1,200 to 5,200 square feet.

Condo price: From $700,000 to $3.5 million.

[NYguy]

Journal News



View of The Renaissance Tower in White Plain, photographed Oct. 3, 2006. Developer Louis Cappelli held a "topping off" ceremony earlier in the day at what will be the county's tallest building. ( Seth Harrison / The Journal News )




White Plains police officer Jim McCann stands on the 41st floor of the Renaissance Tower in White Plains Oct. 3, 2006. McCann was stationed high above White Plains as government officials, including Gov. George Pataki, joined developer Louis Cappelli for a "topping off" ceremony




Gov. George Pataki enjoys the view from the 41st floor of the Renaissance Tower in White Plains




White Plains police officers Jim McCann, left, and Rory Brannigan stand on the 41st floor of the Renaissance Tower in White Plains Oct. 3, 2006.

[Scruffy]

At 44 stories reaching almost 500 feet into the sky, the mammoth
Mamaroneck Avenue structure is said to be the tallest building between New
York City and Boston.

Except for three 500 foot plus towers in Hartford which is between NY and Boston. regardless, this is all really good for White Plains. Ever since Capelli finished off the City Center, the downtown area has blossomed again. There is actual foot traffic. its great. I just hope that New Rochelle follows suit because their downtown area is the pits for a city its size and supposed prestige. boarded up windows and 99 cent stores. hopefully with the new developments there, something will happen. But what would i gice to be able to visit the top of these towers and take some pics.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Scruffy

Except for three 500 foot plus towers in Hartford which is between NY and Boston.

Well, you know with the media nothing really exists between NY and Boston.

[patrick10801]

LET'S HOPE MY HOMETOWN HAS THE TALLEST IN WESTCHESTER!!!! THESE ARE GOING UP DIAGONALLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME, UP ONE BLOCK. LOOKS LIKE THE N.R. COUNCIL IS GOING TO APPROVE THIS BASED ON PRELIMINARY CHATTER


Cappelli aims higher in New Rochelle
By ALEX PHILIPPIDIS :: October 13, 2006

Cappelli Enterprises is asking the New Rochelle City Council to add five stories to the two apartment towers planned as part of LeCount Square, the $500 million project proposed for the downtown block bordered by LeCount Place, Anderson and Huguenot streets and North Avenue.


Joseph V. Apicella, senior vice president of Cappelli Enterprises Inc., blamed higher-than-expected acquisition and construction costs for the request. He said it cost $32 million to acquire the several commercial parcels comprising the 2.2-acre project – compared with $12 million budgeted.


Apicella also said Cappelli needed a larger project to improve the project’s return on investment since construction costs have risen 25 percent in the past three years. Earlier this year developer Martin Ginsburg and Manhattan builder A.J. Rotunde made the same argument successfully when they asked and won approvals from White Plains for five more stories for their planned $200 million complex The Pinnacle.


LeCount Square would consist of 1.1 million square feet of space configured in a three-story retail “podium, atop which would rise the project’s apartment towers. The project would contain 371 dwelling units, 180,917 square feet of retail space, 21,560 square feet of restaurant space, a 172-key hotel with unspecified number of residences, and 189,924 square feet of office space.


“We’re talking to Starwood,” Apicella said – as in White Plains-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which is searching Westchester and Connecticut for a new headquarters office site. “Boy would I love to lure Starwood to this site.”


He said LeCount Square would allow Starwood to locate in one place offices and a new hotel-residences project for Starwood’s W brand: “That’s something we’re considering.”


Earlier this year Starwood lost out to The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company L.L.C. for a deal to operate the hotel and residences within Cappelli’s $400 million Renaissance Square, now under construction in White Plains.


Talks are also in progress with Target Stores Inc. to anchor the retail portion, Apicella said.



(Top of Page)

[Dale]

^ Sounds like the media discoverd that Hartford exists. Now they have little choice but to go higher.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by patrick10801

LET'S HOPE MY HOMETOWN HAS THE TALLEST IN WESTCHESTER!!!! THESE ARE GOING UP DIAGONALLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME, UP ONE BLOCK.

Cool, maybe you can get some photos?

[NYguy]

More news on Westchester's new skyscrapers from the Journal News

Worker hurt at Cappelli site in White Plains is out of hospital

By KEITH EDDINGS
October 24, 2006


WHITE PLAINS - A worker who fell 10 to 15 feet while trying to lash down plywood blowing through the open skeleton of the 46-story Ritz-Carlton tower during a windstorm Friday was released from Westchester Medical Center yesterday. It was at least the third accident to close Main Street since work began at the site 15 months ago.

The worker, Steve Feinstein of Merrick, on Long Island, a manager for developer Louis Cappelli, fell through an opening on the 32nd floor when a wind gust picked up a sheet of plywood he was attempting to hold down, police said. Feinstein left the hospital wearing a back brace and promising to be back on the job shortly, but would not discuss the accident.

Cappelli said yesterday that workers began securing the Ritz tower at 221 Main St. - which recently became the tallest building in Westchester - several hours before the storm hit, and left the building believing they had finished the job as the wind mounted. But Feinstein and a handful of others went back up after a plywood sheet blew from the tower onto Main Street. A hostess at Zanaro's restaurant said it tore an awning from an outside wall.

"There was a woman who came in here - she said it almost hit her," the hostess, Kellie Ramos, said yesterday.

About the time Feinstein was struggling with the plywood, city officials were ordering the crew out of the tower as winds reached 40 mph, said Deputy Building Commissioner Daman Amadio.

"They told us it was extremely windy up there, they could hardly move around," he said. "It wasn't worth putting people in harm's way to search for this potentially loose construction material, so we told them to come back down."

Police then closed several blocks of Main Street and Mamaroneck Avenue from 5 until 10 p.m., leaving Zanaro's and several other businesses without customers for the night.

Police also closed streets around the construction site for several hours on May 8, when a load of setting concrete spilled onto a parked car, and again for an afternoon in August to allow emergency crews to rescue a worker injured in a fall.

Yesterday, Cappelli defended safety at the prominent downtown site, where, he said, 600 people are working up to 50 hours a week.

"On this site alone, in the past 15 months, I'm going to approximate there's been about 1.6 million man-women hours worked," Cappelli said. "And when you look at the injuries, which we want to keep to zero, it speaks for itself that we strive to make it an extremely safe work site. All 600 people, they're on the job, they're 450 feet in the air."

Amadio supported Cappelli's assessment.

"We've been fortunate on this project," Amadio said. "The number of accidents has been minimal."

Incident reports from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration were not immediately available yesterday.

Cappelli is Westchester's busiest developer. He recently topped off another condominium he is building with Donald Trump in New Rochelle, where he also is proposing a 50-story tower, and he is a partner in a $3.1 billion redevelopment proposal for Yonkers' downtown and its waterfront.

Three years ago, Cappelli opened City Center in White Plains.

In May, a 40-year-old father of three died after falling through an air shaft while working on a housing complex that Cappelli is building in Yorktown. The worker, Vincent Bernardone, worked for Sage Contracting, a flooring subcontactor at the site, a spokesman for Cappelli said.

[NYguy]

Westchester.com

Record Sales At 2 Cappelli Projects

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
White Plains, NY

Louis Cappelli's two largest residential developments —The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester in White Plains and Trump Plaza in New Rochelle – are experiencing very strong sales activity.

Westchester’s tallest building -- the 44-story Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester -- is also the area’s fastest-selling new condominium with more than $100 million in sales since the Sales Center officially opened October 3.

“Our initial projections were based on a 12-month Phase 1 sellout which would have amounted to $25 million in sales for October. We’ve done four times that which is truly incredible,” said Mr. Cappelli. “We were confident that the Ritz-Carlton brand and the unique lifestyle that goes with it would strike a responsive chord with buyers, but what we’re experiencing is amazing.”

To date, 35 percent of The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester have been sold -- more than quadruple the number projected for the first month. “What’s also impressive is that we have been able to accomplish this without offering buyer incentives of any kind. In fact, we have had two price increases already,” Mr. Cappelli said. Prices for the Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester currently range from $750,000 to over $6 million.

Located in the heart of downtown White Plains, The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester includes 181 condominium residences and 32 Atelier furnished suites. The residences range in size from 1,200 to 5,200 square feet and offer spacious floor plans from 1-bedroom, 1.5 baths to 3-bedroom, 3.5 baths. Also planned are Penthouse and Sky Club levels. Owners at The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester will have exclusive access to a wide array of The Ritz-Carlton’s legendary five-star amenities and services including maid service, room service, concierge and luxury spa, to name a few. Owners will also benefit from The Ritz-Carlton privileges around the world.

“People understand the Ritz-Carlton brand and want to live it. The entire lifestyle package that Ritz-Carlton offers is unique,” Mr. Cappelli said. He noted that the majority of the initial buyers are “empty nesters” who are selling a home in Westchester. The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester is also attracting young professionals who work in New York City. “Until now, you would have had to live in a major urban center like Manhattan, Chicago or Montreal to be able to enjoy this style of living. Now, it’s here in suburban New York and the buyers are responding.”

The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester is the first of two towers being built as part of the 940,000-square-foot Renaissance Square complex being developed by Mr. Cappelli. The towers rise from The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester, a 10-level hotel comprised of 123 rooms, a 10,000-square-foot luxury spa and fitness center,10,000 square feet of meeting and special event space and a two-story glass “winter garden” restaurant fronting on Main Street.

A second restaurant will be located on the 42nd floor of the tower.

“Over the next couple of weeks we expect to finalize a deal that will bring a prominent Manhattan restaurant to the winter garden overlooking the plaza and fountains at Main Street and Mamaroneck Avenue,” Mr. Cappelli said. “This will be a well known, trendy restaurant that will bring a new level of sophistication to the downtown White Plains dining experience.”

Not to be outdone by the strong sales activity in White Plains, Mr. Cappelli said his company, working in partnership with Donald Trump, has also been seeing very strong sales at Trump Plaza in downtown New Rochelle. He said the 40-story tower with its spectacular views of Long Island Sound has now passed the halfway point in sales. With eight contracts signed in the last two weeks alone, 87 residences in the luxury high-rise condominium tower have now been sold.

“We projected being 30 percent sold at this point and we’ve already reached 50 percent. In six months our sales have passed $75 million. This is a tremendous achievement and makes a very positive statement about the value and viability of the rapidly emerging downtown New Rochelle market,” Mr. Cappelli said.

Roughly half the buyers at Trump Plaza are from Manhattan and others are coming from Riverdale as well as neighboring towns such as Pelham, Larchmont and Scarsdale. “Buyers are attracted by the combination of the Trump luxury lifestyle, the spectacular waterfront views and the convenient and quick access to Manhattan. Downtown New Rochelle has turned the corner and is being discovered as a great place to live,” said Mr. Cappelli.

Trump Plaza offers a wide array of first-class amenities including an elegant marble lobby, indoor swimming pool and full-service health club, a business center, a rooftop garden and 24-hour valet parking and concierge services. Prices at Trump Plaza range from $500,000 to over $3 million. Trump Plaza is scheduled to be completed and open next September.

Observing the housing market in general, Mr. Cappelli concluded: “There may be a slowdown in some locations around the country, but we’re certainly not seeing it in White Plains and New Rochelle. The well-informed buyers know that interest rates are low and that now is actually a very good time to be buying a home.”

[Antares41]

Move to highrise construction.

[biam2]

I think the two towers in New Rochell have been topped off. There are great veiws of the towers from Mount Vernon especially from the intercection of Sanford blvd and Columbus Ave, also from the fulton st bridge (near the train station). And staying on the subject of Mount Vernon a new 20 story condo tower has been aproved. Heres a link to the city clerks page (includes renderings at the bottom) http://www.cmvny.com/departments/cit.../alexander.asp

[H-man]

when i figure out how to put pics from my phone onto my computer i can get some really good shots of city center and reniassiance in WP

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by H-man

when i figure out how to put pics from my phone onto my computer i can get some really good shots of city center and reniassiance in WP

Cool. Westchester deserves more action in the forumn.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by biam2

I think the two towers in New Rochell have been topped off. There are great veiws of the towers from Mount Vernon especially from the intercection of Sanford blvd and Columbus Ave, also from the fulton st bridge (near the train station). And staying on the subject of Mount Vernon a new 20 story condo tower has been aproved. Heres a link to the city clerks page (includes renderings at the bottom) http://www.cmvny.com/departments/cit.../alexander.asp

Thanks, lots of info there. I think that tower would have looked better designed as two instead of one massive tower. Still a nice project.

[Scruffy]

the super fast presales on the ritz are great news for White Plains. Now all the projects that were teetering back and forth between a go and death can be pushed forward. the pinnacle being the biggest i think.

[NYC2ATX]

I can't believe it! Mount Vernon is in on the deverlopment in westchester too?
everyone seems to want a hand in on this boom.
I'm waiting for Yonkers now.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

I can't believe it! Mount Vernon is in on the deverlopment in westchester too?
everyone seems to want a hand in on this boom.
I'm waiting for Yonkers now.

Yonkers has a development going on the river...

[tyork]

Originally Posted by Scruffy

Seriously Stamford has to get its ass in gear. First CT placee. then that died. Then that other company wanted a tower at that lot, but no foward movement. now trump's tower is promising but no further news. that atlantic street tower stalled. Can anything get built in Stamford now??

Trumps tower got denied, RBS Greenwich Capital is building their headquarters on the ct place site. Cappelli wants to build a Ritz-Carlton renaissance square looking building in Stamford… but we will see if it gets approved.