Lighthouse Landing Development Is Taking Shape

SLEEPY HOLLOW, NY-The proposed revitalization of the former General Motors assembly plant here into a massive mixed-use development that will include more than 1,500 housing units was the focus of a public hearing on the development's Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The project, which some observers estimate will cost at least $500 million to build, is now before agencies of the Village of Sleepy Hollow seeking approval of its DEIS.

The project will be built on a 94.5-acre parcel that had been the site of a GM plant until 1996. If things go according to plan, the mixed-use project could break ground sometime next year.

At the hearing, Mark Weingarten of the White Plains-based law firm DelBello, Donnellan, Weingarten & Tartaglia LLP and Jonathan Stein, a partner in Roseland Property Co. of Short Hills, NJ, presented the DEIS to approximately 100 attendees. The massive revitalization project is a joint venture of Roseland and General Motors Corp. Most of the presentation focused on the scope of the development and issues of concern to village residents, particularly the project's impact on schools, taxes and traffic.

Stein said that the project, as proposed, calls for 1,562 housing units, a 147-room hotel, 180,000 sf of retail space, a 50,200-sf office building, and a possible new Metro North train station on the property with commuter parking for 400 vehicles. The mix of the residential units includes 922 rental apartments, 216 condominiums, 224 townhomes and 200 senior citizen apartments, 100 of which will be affordable units set aside for municipal workers, teachers and village volunteers.

Included in the retail component of the project will be a 26,000-sf Fine Arts cinema and a specialty grocer that would be housed in approximately 24,000 sf of space, as well as space set aside for restaurants. The height of the buildings would range between three and five stories. The 64.5-acre parcel on the west side of the property would contain a new street system linking Beekman Avenue and River Street and would be where all the residential development will be housed. Retail and office uses will be located along Beekman Place, the project's "Main Street" and will visually connect Beekman Avenue with the historic lighthouse on the Hudson River, Roseland stated in the DEIS.

Stein said that the project, as proposed, is based on extensive public input as well as suggestions made by local environmental groups such as Scenic Hudson and Historic Hudson Valley. "We are going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in investment in order to revitalize that waterfront and create the open space that you told us you want. One third of every dollar I spend on that land is public donation of property."

The plan would include the donation of approximately 33 acres of land, which comprises about one-third of the site, for the creation of waterfront open space that would link the site to Kingsland Point Park and Horan's Landing. A portion of the donated land will also help expand the adjacent Devries Park. According to the DEIS, the village intends to use a portion of the donated land for a new Public Works facility and for the possible expansion of the adjacent Philipsburg Manor Restoration property.

Weingarten said that based on the mix of residential units, the project will only generate an additional 217 school-aged children. He said that figure was based on estimates supplied by the Sleepy Hollow School District. Roseland estimated the number of additional schoolchildren that would be living in the community would run anywhere from 109 to 217 public school students. Roseland stated that at full build-out, the project is estimated to generate $4.3 million annually in public revenues, while costing the Village of Sleepy Hollow $3.2 million per year.