'Hole in the ground' has a date with a backhoe

Developers of the planned Bank Street Commons hotelapartment complex in downtown White Plains told an audience of real estate professionals they expect to break ground for the $120 million project by the end of June.

LCOR Inc. of Berwyn, Pa., and Robert Martin Co. of Elmsford will transform a 3-acre city-owned urban renewal site known as the "hole in the ground." It sits just south of the Metro-North Railroad station.

The developers plan to begin work immediately on the northern part of two planned apartment towers, followed by the southern tower The towers will contain 500 apartments.

Bank Street Commons also calls for a 200-unit hotel to be built south of the southern apartment tower. The developers are in talks with a prospective operator of the hotel, an LCOR executive said March 15.

"We're looking for a good hotel. We're looking for synergy with the apartments. We're looking for the highest level of service we can find," said Peter T. Gilpatric, executive vice president with LCOR. "We're optimistic we can get a hotel."

Gilpatric said the developers base their optimism on the crunch that out-of-towners now face finding a hotel room in or near White Plains.

The city is home to the 401-room Crowne Plaza, the 305room The Esplanade Hotel and a 132-room Marriott Residence Inn specializing in extended stays.

Gilpatric and Robert Martin president Robert F. Weinberg addressed the Commercial & Investment Division of the Westchester County Board of Realtors, at a meeting held in the board's White Plains offices.

During their talk and in answers to questions from the audience of more than 50 professionals, Gilpatric and Weinberg said the first apartments should be ready for occupancy in January or February of 2003.

Gilpatric said rents will be market-rate - meaning within the $2,000 range for one-bedroom units and within the $3,000 range for two-bedroom units if leased today.

Bank Street Commons is one of four upscale apartment projects with a combined nearly 1,000 units that have been approved or are under review in White Plains.

City officials have encouraged the projects in hopes of revitalizing the city's troubled downtown with hundreds of new and affluent shoppers.

The other three projects include:

* The Spinnaker Cos. of Stamford, Conn., broke ground last December on Clayton Park, a 260-unit complex at Main Street and Canfield Avenue, a few blocks east of the downtown.

* JPI of Irving, Texas, has proposed 281 units on a city block bordered by Mamaroneck, Greenridge, Livingston and Rutherford avenues.

* Pappas Development Corp. of Boston, Mass., won approval last year for 106 apartments at Church Street and Barker Avenue.

The projects include some affordable apartments - 30 at Bank Street Commons, 15 at JPI, six at the Pappas project and five at Clayton Park.

Robert Martin is part of RMAP, the partnership that has held development rights to the "hole in the ground" for more than a decade. The partnership includes The Jack Parker Corp. of New York City.

Robert Martin helped transform the face of downtown White Plains during the 1970s and '80s through a dozen commercial and residential projects on urban renewal sites.

LCOR entered Westchester in December 1999 when it acquired The Landmark at Eastview, the 275-acre, 741,000square-foot office and laboratory complex on the GreenburghMount Pleasant border.

At Bank Street Commons, Weinberg said, prospective renters were mostly young professional couples with combined annual incomes in the $75,000 to $125,000 range. Forty percent of residents are expected to work in New York City, and thus would be eager to live within a block or two of the Metro-North station.

"People are running away from New York City rents. They're no longer running away from New York City as a place to live" as its quality of life has improved under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Weinberg said.

"Because it's such a wonderful place to live, you can't afford to live there anymore," he added.

Gilpatric said the developers are seeking tenants for three commercial spaces totaling about 10,000 square feet - one for a restaurant, one a small shop and one a convenience food store or delicatessen.

He said the developers plan to apply for building permits in April, after completing foundation drawings.

"It's a first-class urban project in every sense of the word," Gilpatric said.