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NEW ROCHELLE, NY | RDRXR General Development

This is the general thread for New Rochelle, NY RDRXR development.

Source Article: Talk of the Sound

SYNOPSIS:

Quote:

NEW ROCHELLE, NY -- New Rochelle City Council has unanimously approved a new zoning plan that paves the way for the most significant economic rebirth in the City’s historic downtown. The adoption of the Downtown Overlay Zone and Community Benefits Policy concludes an intensive year-long research, planning and community outreach process, led by the City of New Rochelle and its designated Master Developer for Downtown, RDRXR.

The new zoning provides a clear and transparent roadmap for investment to developers and property owners, while also setting design standards and community benefit requirements intended to create a thriving, attractive, and sustainable city center. A new Fair Share Mitigation Fund will help ensure that development covers any public costs associated with growth and that taxpayers receive a net benefit. The new plan creates the possibility for a New Rochelle brimming with vibrant, yet intelligently designed new development that would impact the City throughout the 21st Century, as it permits construction of up to 990,000 square feet of new retail space, 1,805,000 square feet of new non-medical office space, 420,000 square feet of medical office space and 5,500 apartments, approximately 10% of which will be affordable housing.

“This innovative development framework positions our City for success, especially combined with New Rochelle’s core assets - unrivaled location and transit connections, a talented and diverse population, and great schools, libraries and neighborhoods. There is no community in New York that offers a better opportunity today or a bigger upside tomorrow,” said Mayor Noam Bramson.

New Rochelle’s downtown plan reflects extensive public input, gleaned through a Crowdsourced Placemaking program with over a thousand members participating as well as multiple community meetings and two public hearings. More than one hundred different ideas were generated for New Rochelle’s downtown, many of which were included in the Recommended Action Plan (“RAP”).

Following the approval of the RAP, the City and RDRXR completed the requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”), thoroughly analyzing the impacts of the redevelopment plan and providing measures to mitigate those impacts. The results of the SEQRA review are detailed in the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement and Findings Statement. The completion of the SEQRA process will reduce financial and procedural impediments to future investment.

“Today is a great day for the City of New Rochelle and we are thrilled to be a part of it,” said RXR Realty CEO Scott Rechler. “The rezoning passed by the City Council will not only bring new employment opportunities and services to the city’s residents, but will also attract significant new private investment to the city and generate tens of millions of dollars in incremental tax revenue to allow the city to continue to prosper in the years to come. We thank both New Rochelle’s City officials and the many citizens who participated in this process over the last year, making this a truly collaborative effort that will build on and enhance all that is special about this unique Westchester community and turn New Rochelle’s downtown into a model for 21st Century suburban downtowns across the country.”

Donald Monti, President and CEO, Renaissance Downtowns, said, "The City of New Rochelle should be commended on finalizing its bold initiative to attract private investment into its Downtown. The exclamation point on their efforts is the 7-0 Bipartisan vote! This is a model of how a true Public / Private Partnership should work; This is how economic development happens; This is the Future! Congratulations to the entire city, we can’t wait to get the first building in the ground."

“New Rochelle has come together in support of the revitalization of our downtown,” said Development Commissioner Luiz C. Aragon “We have created the right environment for the ideal work, live and play landscape. Come to New Rochelle, we’re open for business.”

Gregory A. Merchant, President and CEO of Investment Design Properties, Ltd. and RDRXR Consultant stated, “The revitalization of downtown New Rochelle has been coming for thirty years. It is now finally our time to see unprecedented growth in the downtown which will serve as the economic engine for the City of New Rochelle for many years to come.”

The Downtown Development Project- including the Recommended Action Plan, all of the SEQRA documents, the new Downtown Overlay Zone, and Community Benefits Policy - can be viewed on the City website at http://www.newrochelleny.com/RDRXR

Article Source: Westfair Online

http://i.imgur.com/nracsw4.jpg?1

HQ version

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Developers of an apartment building in downtown New Rochelle will create a space that could reclaim the street’s former cultural prominence and preserve a bit of history that echoes an affluent bygone era.

The city’s master developer, RDRXR, submitted plans on April 11 for a $120 million, 28-story apartment tower on Main Street on a site that companies have tried and failed to develop.

The apartment project is significant because it will be the first in the city’s ambitious plan to rebuild downtown using new zoning tools.

“And it’s important because it shows a commitment from a major developer,” said Luis Aragon, New Rochelle commissioner of development.

If all goes according to design, the city Planning Board will soon vote on the project, ground will be broken by Nov. 15 and the building will open in 2018.

The building will include retail space on the ground floor, a parking garage and a “black box” theater.

The theater is a crucial part of the city’s plan to transform Main Street into a cultural district. To understand the dynamics of the project, first look at what’s there now.

RDRXR will build the tower at 587–599 Main St. The site includes two buildings: the old Loew’s Theatre, a massive structure that extends all the way back to Huguenot Street, and a narrow row of storefronts and the theater entrance.

The old theater is an eyesore and four storefronts are vacant. But if you look more closely you will see a telling detail. The façade behind the theater marquee features terracotta architectural embellishments. Look around and you will notice more terracotta features on several nearby buildings.

The architectural flourishes had been concealed by paint and faux facades for many years. In 2012, the Downtown Business Improvement District won state grants to uncover them. About $100,000 was spent restoring the Loew’s façade, according to Ralph DiBart, the district’s executive director.

He said the restorations have played a role in the city’s efforts to revitalize downtown. They demonstrate to developers that these are streets that people care about and that this is a good place in which to invest.

The architectural details also hint at a grander time and place.

Loew’s was built in 1926. It was designed by Herbert J. Krapp, one of the leading theater architects during the era of movie palaces. It was built in an elaborate Spanish-Mediterranean style, with a clay tile roof, baroque parapet and gorgeous mosaics, according to New Rochelle City Historian Barbara Davis.

Krapp also designed the elegant Proctor’s RKO Theater that opened across the street in 1927. Both theaters could seat about 2,500 people, and they staged vaudeville shows and presented the most popular movies of the day. George and Gracie Burns, Sophie Tucker, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and other celebrities performed on Main Street.

The movie palaces also reflected the city’s wealth. New Rochelle had the third highest per capita income in the nation by the 1930s, Davis said, and the highest in New York state. Posh department stores, park-like neighborhoods and quick access to Manhattan by train gave the city a reputation as a premium bedroom community.

The city’s economic fortunes declined over the years. By the 1960s, Interstate 95 and suburban malls had drained customers out of downtown. Television put a dent in movie attendance and the convenience of buying videotaped movies at stores divided audiences even more. The large auditoriums were subdivided into multiplexes. In 1980, Loew’s closed.

Years ago, the theater was turned into a nightclub called the Palladium. The walls were painted black and unique architectural elements were stripped out, according to RDRXR spokesman Seth Pinsky.

The club became the site of drug activity and unruly conduct. Or as Albert Tarantino, a city councilman and co-owner of Talner Fine Jewelry a block away from the theater, recalled, “It created late night and early morning issues for our police department.”

A city task force was formed to remind the club owner to comply with the laws. Agents enforced liquor laws. Patrons filed lawsuits. The club closed in 2003.

Around 2006, a White Plains developer proposed a 150-unit apartment building, but the Great Recession stopped that project.

As the economy began to improve, Tarantino said, the city council began looking for ways to reverse falling revenue and “turn negatives into positives.”

Two years ago the city began focusing a plan for more housing, shops, restaurants, offices, and hotels, with easy access to the New Rochelle Transportation Center, built around safer streets and abundant green space. It hired RDRXR at New Rochelle LLC – a joint venture of two large real estate development firms based on Long Island, Renaissance Downtowns and RXR Realty LLC – as the master developer.

The firm developed ideas and strategies for achieving the city’s goals. It also completed a comprehensive state environmental quality review for the entire downtown development area. Now any developer can skip that expensive, time-consuming step and take a proposal directly to the city, cutting the approval process by a year, Tarantino said.

“It saves time and money, the two most important things to developers,” he said.

The downtown plan also offers incentives to invest there.

Developers can build more floor space than the basic zoning allows, gaining up to 20 percent more height, by preserving historic sites, creating cultural spaces or providing other community benefits.

The area around the Loew’s has been designated a cultural district.

“We’re talking about art galleries and maker spaces and performance studios and housing for artists,” Aragon said.

That’s why RDRXR is building a 10,000-square-foot black box theater, a versatile space that can be used for many types of events, on the second floor of its building. Under the existing zoning, 24 floors may be built. By building a performance space and preserving the façade and its terracotta details, four more floors may be built.

As an official in the mayoral administration of Michael Bloomberg in New York, Pinsky learned that the key to making such incentives work is for the city to squeeze as much as possible out of the developer while giving the developer enough incremental value to make the project work.

the city has issue a RFP for the site of NR's No. 1 firehouse. Zoning allows for a 28 story building, so this should be another stand-out tower on the skyline along with 587 Main Street.

New Rochelle Remains 'Open For Business' With Latest Development Proposal

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[...]
On Thursday, New Rochelle officials announced that they’ve issued a competitive request for proposal (RFP) to develop the parcel at 45 Harrison St., the site of New Rochelle Fire Station No. 1.
The property is located between Huguenot and Main Streets, east of the downtown business district , in the vicinity of I-95 . It includes more than 30,000-square-feet and is zoned to allow for a building 28 stories in height.

preliminary massing/rendering

http://a4.static.dailyvoice.com/imag...0.08_PM_gqacbo

For the record, because both towns are related somehow, here's an exaggeratedly oldish picture of the original Rochelle.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/433/1...c403e7f6_b.jpg

That fabric must be dated from the 16th or 17th century. My own closest relative (mom herself) is seriously planning to retire over there. I don't really know why. I like Bordeaux much better. I like larger towns anyway.
But for the sake of secular education over here, la Rochelle is pictured as a real Protestant martyr here in France, and my mom just loves it.
:shrug: The way it is...

I moved to New Rochelle in the beginning of May. There is an incredible amount of development in this city now, a welcome change from the vehement NIMBYs elsewhere in Westchester County.

Here are a couple of photos of 247 North Ave. This will be 28 stories tall and have 307 residential units.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4c1e9e31_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9932b1d8_b.jpg

Here is a rendering of the building (image courtesy of Cappelili Organization).

285 North Ave: A 23-floor residential building being built here. A vacant bank was recently demolished on the property.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...87cb009d_b.jpg

https://www.bldup.com/rails/active_s...85%20North.png
Rendering courtesy of BLDUP.

500 Main Street: This building is 26 floors tall and will have 477 residential units.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...965566dd_b.jpg

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/c...g?format=1000w
Rendering via Niles Bolton Associates.

Nice. Keep us updated on progress.

In Westchester, the affluent villages are typically very NIMBY, but the bigger, more urban cities generally have lots of development planned. Certainly Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, White Plains and Port Chester.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crawford (Post 10227729)

There so much development both underway and planned in this city. I want to make a photo thread as time permits.

Here is a skyline photo from my apartment's roof.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e01c26dd_b.jpg

From one side of the roof, you can see the Manhattan skyline and many of the bridges in the region, including the Throgs Neck bridge, Whitestone bridge, and the George Washington bridge.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fa86fcd1_b.jpg

From the other side of the roof, there are expansive views of the Long Island Sound. I am going to bring my kayak from my dad's in Bridgeport to the New Rochelle harbor this week. I can't wait to get out fishing on it.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e59a93ea_b.jpg

Nice. New Rochelle has had a number of towers go up in the past three years. It's been very impressive to see.

Work is continuing at 277 North Ave. This will be a 23 floor residential building with 442 units.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cc585dc2_b.jpg

https://www.ideallynewrochelle.com/g...orth-avenue-2/

Nice. This building will add a ton of much-needed apartment units.

I don't see a thread for Yonkers but this building is under construction about two blocks off of Main Street in Yonkers. I was too cold on Saturday afternoon to walk to get a photo from a closer location.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5d3c2692_b.jpg

I emailed the Larchmont Planning Board this evening to support this proposed development. The article below notes this is in the unincorporated area between Larchmont and New Rochelle. Boston Post Road is a significant corridor with excellent bus service-- this is exactly where new development should be located. This is also within walking distance of the Larchmont commercial district.

Showdown at Larchmont’s BLD Diner
Opponents Say Scaled Down Development Still Too Big

By Polly Kreisman
December 30, 2024
Larchmont Loop

https://larchmontloop.com/wp-content...on-9_25_24.jpg
Renderings courtesy of the Larchmont Loop.

"A proposed development around 2399 Boston Post Road, the current site of the BLD Diner, is meeting with opposition from local residents, who raise concerns over the potential environmental risk to the protected Premium Salt Marsh Complex, traffic, parking and more.

According to Town Planning Board documents, BLD Diner owner Gregory Katsaros and his 2399 Boston Post Road Realty Corp are pursuing redevelopment of the properties located at 2399 and 2417 Boston Post Road and 6 and 10 Deane Place with two (2) four (4) story multi-family residential buildings, containing 36 dwelling units, together with 61 parking spaces and related infrastructure.

A public hearing will be held by the Planning Board Wednesday, January 15 at 7:30 pm at the Town of Mamaroneck Senior Center, 1288 W. Boston Post Rd. Although the property has a Larchmont address it sits just outside village limits in a narrow stretch of “unincorporated” Mamaroneck Town between Larchmont and the City of New Rochelle..."

https://larchmontloop.com/showdown-a...nts-bld-diner/

A pair of 28-floor buildings are planned for New Rochelle. The first one is on 570 Main Street, where there are currently vacant retail buildings.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9155a00c_b.jpg

The second 28-floor residential building is at 26 Garden Street, right off of I-95.

28-story apartment building proposed for New Rochelle

By Peter Katz
Westfair Business Journal
Oct. 7, 2024

https://westfaironline.com/wp-conten...-Garden-St.png
Rendering courtesy of Westfair Business Journal.

"The entity MJ Garden LLC has presented preliminary plans to New Rochelle for a new 28-story apartment building at 26 Garden St. The new building would mark the third and final phase in the development of the site, which is a project of Simone Development Companies and Stagg Group. Construction is underway on Phase 2 of the project, with Phase 1 having already been completed.

The first phase, a six-story building that was completed in the summer of 2021, includes the new home of the Westchester Family Court, with two courtrooms, three hearing rooms, judge’s chambers, offices for non-judicial staff and for staff from the Office for Women, Department of Probation and other county agencies..."

https://westfaironline.com/combined/...-new-rochelle/

Construction has started for a 17-floor residential building on the vacant lot at North and Main Street.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4d3753b9_b.jpg

This is a very exciting proposal for the industrial land and vacant armory building located off of Main Street.

Pratt Landing approved by New Rochelle

By Peter Katz
April 24, 2025
Westfair Business Journal

https://westfaironline.com/wp-conten...27-700x521.png
Image courtesy of Westfair Business Journal

"The New Rochelle Planning Board at its Jan. 28 meeting gave site plan approval for Pratt Landing, a mixed-use waterfront development at 224 E. Main St., a site known to many as Echo Bay. The site at one time had on it a city Department of Public Works facility and covers 11.2 acres.

Developer Twining Properties refers to the project as a “public-private partnership between the City of New Rochelle, State of New York and Twining.”

Twining is planning to transform the former industrial brownfield site along the Long Island Sound into a mixed-use community featuring more than 300 residential units including 99 condominiums, a hotel, and more than 40,000 square feet of commercial space. A key feature of the project is the restoration of the New Rochelle Naval Armory, which will be revitalized to include dedicated veterans housing and community spaces..."

https://westfaironline.com/combined/...-new-rochelle/

Here is a website and a video for the development.
https://www.twiningproperties.com/prattlanding

How an NYC Suburb Is Actually Managing to Bring Rents Down
New Rochelle embraces development and makes it easy to build, leading to thousands of new apartments

Picciotto, Rebecca
Wall Street Journal
Aug 5, 2025

“Cities across the U.S. that aim to build new housing often run into fierce community opposition from Nimbys , who object to new development in "my backyard."

But one commuter town outside New York City is slicing through red tape and building thousands of new apartments.

New Rochelle has completed more than 4,500 new housing units over the past decade. Another 6,500 units are either in the pipeline or the planning stages for the next several years. Those 11,000 new units would represent a 37% increase in the number of New Rochelle apartments compared with 10 years ago.”

https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/nyc-...d=hp_lead_pos8

I took this photo this morning of the residential development at the corner of Main Street and North Ave. I think it will be 18 floors

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ec6916b9_c.jpg

'Getting Ahead of the NIMBY Energy': An Older City Learns to Build
Clear, consistent planning and messaging helped New Rochelle, N.Y., build thousands of housing units with minimal blowback.

Governing
By Christopher Swope
Fall 2025

“New Rochelle is a classic New York suburban bedroom community. Its recent transformation is the result of concerted planning that began about a decade ago.

Efforts to revitalize a once-thriving downtown stalled after the Great Recession, in part because builders found it difficult to get projects approved. In 2015, city leaders adopted a new strategy to jump-start development within a 300-acre area surrounding a train station where commuters can catch a 37-minute ride to Midtown Manhattan. 

Now, New Rochelle is creating a new skyline of high-rise apartment buildings. More than 4,500 new units are already online, with another 6,500 on the way, including a mix of market rate and affordable units. That is significantly boosting housing supply in a municipality of 80,000 people. Rents in New Rochelle are holding steady, in contrast to steep increases elsewhere. Meanwhile, a NIMBY backlash of the sort that often sinks big development plans never materialized...”

https://www.governing.com/magazine/g...earns-to-build

Stella Phase Two Rises at 455 Main Street in New Rochelle, New York

https://newyorkyimby.com/wp-content/...-1753x2048.jpg

Quote:

Construction is rising on 455 Main Street, the 17-story second phase of Stella, a two-tower residential complex in New Rochelle, New York. Designed by Beyer Blinder Belle and developed in a collaboration between Wilder Balter Partners, Inc. (WBP) and L&M Development Partners, the structure will yield 126 affordable condominium units. The project will also include 3,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 101 enclosed parking spaces available for purchase. The 0.4-acre property is located at the corner of Main Street and North Avenue.

The reinforced concrete superstructure has surpassed the podium levels and is steadily rising alongside the first phase of Stella, which finished construction in 2021 to the north at 10 LeCount Place. Formwork covers the most recently formed floors of the main tower as the concrete settles, and the base of the external hoist has begun assembly on the western elevation along North Avenue.

Homes will be divided into 14 studios, 56 one-bedroom units, 42 two-bedroom units, and 14 three-bedroom units. All of the condominiums will be reserved for households earning at or less than 80 percent of the area median income (AMI). A list of amenities has yet to be announced.

The development is located within a 10-minute walk of the New Rochelle train station on the New Haven line to Grand Central Terminal.

455 Main Street is expected to cost $100.9 million and is slated for completion in June 2027, as noted on site.

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NYY

Thank you for posting. Construction is progressing quick on this. They are adding about 1 - 2 floors per week.

If know any New Rochelle residents, please encourage them to email the city council to support the proposed 28-story development at 570 Main Street. The city council will be considering it at their meeting on Oct. 28.

https://www.101010nr.com/maps/dev.asp?DevProjID=Dev44