'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
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