Harrison: 1st apartment project on Platinum Mile breaks ground

HARRISON - The first apartment development on the Platinum Mile broke ground Tuesday, marking the further transformation of the aged office park corridor.

To make way for the 421-unit luxury apartment complex, to be known as Carraway, one of two vacant office buildings at the 10.35 acre site, 105 Corporate Park Drive, has already been razed. Following the groundbreaking ceremony, heavy equipment started crashing into the facade of the remaining building at 103 Corporate Park Drive.

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"If they sit vacant, it helps no one. Or, they can be re-purposed and help everybody," said county Executive Rob Astorino who attended the ceremony. "This is another great project that has continued the trend in Westchester for the last five years."

The apartment complex, to be developed by Toll Brothers, will feature a mix of 22 studios as well as 217 one-bedroom and 182 two-bedroom units. The five-story building will offer amenities such as a club room, fitness center, children's playroom, pet spa, bike lounge, craft room, co-working lounge and pool, along with retail on the first floor and 752 indoor and outdoor parking spaces, according to the developer.

Known as a luxury-home builder in Westchester, Toll Brothers has been constructing single-family homes and townhouses in four different communities in the county, including Summit Estates at Westchester in Valhalla.

The developer has also built luxury apartments throughout the nation, although not on a former office park, said Bryan Oos, vice president of development with Toll Brothers Apartment Living.

"It's certainly an emerging trend, and we've seen a number of opportunities," Oos said. "We expect more in the future."

About 10 percent of the complex, or 42 units, will be set aside as affordable housing for households with income up to 60 and 80 percent of the area median income. In the case of a couple, the household income threshold should fall in the range of $52,000 and $69,000.

The lower income affordable units will rent for $1,250 for a one-bedroom apartment, including all utilities. At the higher income affordable level, a one-bedroom will rent for $1,600, including all utilities.

The rental price of the market-rate apartments has not been finalized, Oos said.

Leasing for the complex is expected to begin in the fall of 2019, and the project is slated to be completed by the summer of 2020.

Toll Brothers hasn't released the estimated cost of the project. The developer paid about $17 million to buy the 103-105 Corporate Park Drive property to former owner, Normandy Real Estate Partners, according to the deed document filed in April with the Westchester County Clerk's Office.

Setting the course

Re-purposing aging suburban office parks has been a nationwide trend as corporate offices downsize or move back to major cities.

In Westchester, universities, hotels, medical facilities and a fitness center have taken over some former corporate headquarters and office buildings.

The success of Carraway as the first residential project in a Harrison office park is significant because it could spur further redevelopment of other underused office parks in the region, said Harrison town Planner Pat Cleary.

"It's been a big shift from the old paradigm — what used to be here, and what's going to be here. So there's been a lot of interests," Cleary said. "And a lot of people are watching to see what's happening, whether it's going to work."

Just around the corner from the Carraway site on Corporate Park Drive, Wegmans Food Markets is proposing to build a standalone 125,000-square-foot store and a separate 8,000-square-foot retail building at a 20-acre parcel at 106-110 Corporate Park Drive.

The Wegmans project has received all the necessary approvals from the Planning Board and is heading to the Town Board for its approval for a special permit, officials said.

"They are very, very close to the end of the approval process," Creary said, adding that the next step after the special permit would be to file a building permit application accompanied by construction drawings. "It's moving along very well."

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