District Galleria
How many times have we strolled through a newly developed area of another city full of activity, with green space, restaurants, bars, shops and other venues and asked, “why can’t Westchester have something like this?” We will.
It is long past the time to re-imagine downtown White Plains. It is long past the time for the 50-year-old Galleria Mall to be demolished. Its owner, lender, the City of White Plains and two creative, prominent developers (The Cappelli Organization and S. L. Green) form the team for this massive project and are basically on the same page about what it will look like. There will be many tweaks and changes until the final plan is approved, but this is the broad concept and has great merit.
It will turn about 11 acres, formerly occupied by the obsolete mall and old parking structures in the center of the city into a vibrant community of apartments, eating and entertainment venues with almost half the site being open green space.
Image courtesy of: Crain’s New York Business, 5/13/2024, Sponsored content by the Cappelli Organization, Copyright © 1996-2024. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Think about the pedestrian activity day and night and 7 buildings with 3200 units of new high-rise housing with spectacular views, all underground parking and a short walk to the Metro-North Station.
About 229,000 square feet is planned for retail, restaurants and services.
Approximately 12% (384 apartments) will be affordable, as per the City’s requirements.
It is estimated to cost $2.5 billion.
This will be a massive project that (according to Louis Cappelli, one of its developers) will take 10-12 years to complete. As with any large construction project, there will be a lot of noise, truck traffic and material hauled in and out of the site, which will affect those living and working in the downtown area. The new buildings will not all be built at the same time.
But the result will be worth it – a total transformation of the central part of the downtown area into what people want today.
Why Are So Many Apartments Being Built?
District Galleria will be a continuation of the significant development of apartments in White Plains. Almost all of them have been new ground-up buildings. But a couple (1 Martine at City Square and Hamilton Crossing) have been conversions of old office space into residential space. They have both been successful and feature spectacular amenities packages.
I am fully confident that all of the apartments that are under construction will be rented.
A prime example is the recent lease-up of The Mitchell on Mamaroneck Avenue (pictured above) was the fastest in the 70-year history of America’s largest home builder, Lennar. It is a clear example of how the right product produces a high level of demand.
While apartments developed today are almost always on the small side, the amenities packages are huge. It is not about spending all of your time in your apartment. You can go to the fitness center, the game room, the golf simulator, the swimming pool and sundeck.
You can barbeque and enjoy the view from the roof deck. You can watch sports on big screen TV’s, entertain in a private dining room, have a business meeting in a conference room and work in an on-site co-working area. You can store your bike and give your dog a bath in the dog room. No snow shoveling, no repairs, no maintenance responsibilities.
The low inventory of homes for sale (at very high prices) only adds to the attractiveness of the new developments for everyone from young singles to empty nesters and seniors.
Across Main St. from the Galleria site, Hamilton Green is currently under construction.
This two-phase development was originally planned as a four building multi-family community.
However, the New York Power Authority (currently located in its own building at 123 Main St.) is in negotiation to with the developers to make one of the proposed buildings its new headquarters, literally across the street from its present building.
It is a great idea that will keep a major employer in downtown White Plains and open up its former building for redevelopment.
What About Building Offices?
There is no office space being built. Period. Not one square foot.
Our county-wide office inventory has shrunk from approximately 33 million square feet to about 26 million square feet in the last 12 years or so with obsolete buildings either being demolished and the land sites developed into apartment communities in former office parks, upgraded and converted to medical uses or new concepts such as LifeTime Fitness.
There is currently at least 1-2 million more square feet of buildings on the inventory that cannot transact leases due primarily to financial issues. With the advent of remote work and hybrid work, demand for office space nationally is decreasing, but we still cannot repurpose enough of it to get the supply-demand equation in balance.
While there have been articles recently about many companies requiring their employees to return to the office for 3-5 days per week, these are the mega-companies in tech or finance that are not typically tenants in Westchester.
Lately, leasing in the downtown White Plains submarket has ticked up, as there is a desire by some companies to have offices with good amenity packages that are walkable to eating venues, bars, services and the Metro-North Station.
We may not all be here when the District Galleria is finished, but it will bring White Plains into this century, reunite and reinvigorate the city.