At the event, Rechler told GlobeSt.com the company is also leaning toward giving the go-ahead for the construction of Seven International Drive, a 315,000-sf office building to be built at its Reckson Executive Park complex in Rye Brook. "We haven't got our final internal approvals right now, but I think our strategy right now is to aim to the fall."
The project, which Reckson has previously estimated could cost approximately $86 million, would be the first speculative multi-tenanted office building built in Westchester in more than a decade, he added. Rechler said that Reckson is bullish on Westchester and believes the former EastRidge portfolio, originally built by Westchester developer Lowell Schulman beginning in the late 1960s, can be converted to a top class A asset.
Terming the Reckson Platinum Mile portfolio "a diamond in the rough," Rechler told area brokers, "If you can take control of the portfolio and give it the type of care and polishing that it needs, it will stand out in the market like no other portfolio." He noted that the firm has undertaken other repositioning programs of late, including the upgrades of 360 Hamilton Ave. in White Plains and Landmark Square in Stamford, CT. "We know how to polish. We're good jewelers in terms of that."
David Sims, senior vice president and managing director/Westchester/Connecticut for Reckson, along with other company officials went into detail on the repositioning program which will involve extensive interior upgrades, including lobbies, as well as major landscaping improvements. A total of $20 million will be spent on the former EastRidge buildings and another $10 million to upgrade the 103 Corporate Park Dr. building in White Plains (formerly occupied by Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Inc.), which has been vacant for some time.
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