New Stop & Shop opens in Greenburgh, Westchester
Posted by Paul Adler on Tue, Jul 26, 2011 @ 12:55 PM
GREENBURGH – Ground was brokenat the site of what was more than three decades ago the infamous Westchester Premier Theater on a new Stop & Shop Supermarket and ancillary retail that could eventually bring affordable housing and other uses to suburban office properties in the county.
The more than $20-million project is a first and could be a precedent-setting endeavor since it will involve the first time a mixed-use has been allowed in an existing office park inWestchester. The owner and developer of “Premier Plaza”—White Hickory Associates LLC, which consists of some of the pioneers of office development in Westchester County, held a groundbreaking ceremony on June 28 at the now barren site located near the Sheraton Hotel and office parks and down the street from the Westchester Marriott.
White Hickory Associates consists of executives with Robert Martin Company of Elmsford and the former Halpern Development Corp. ofTarrytown. Robert Martin Co. is the managing partner, whose individual members are Robert Weinberg, Martin S. Berger, Tim Jones, Greg Berger, and Brad Berger. J.A.H. Realties, LP is another partner with members Jon Halpern and Jason Halpern. The third partner in White Hickory Associates
isWarrenLesser, a former executive with Halpern Development.
The project will involve the construction of a new Stop & Shop totaling more than 55,500 rentable square feet, as well as a 12,500-square-foot retail building. In the future, the plan calls for the construction of a 3,800-square-foot bank building and another 14,500 square feet of retail space. Construction on the Stop & Shop
is expected to be completed by year’s end. KBE Building Corp. ofFarmington,CTis the general contractor. Webster Bank is financing the project.
Weinberg praised the Town ofGreenburghfor amending its zoning to allow for the retail use at the property that is zoned commercial office. He noted that because there is a lack of supermarkets in the area, the project was supported by Greenburgh, as well as adjoining communities of Elmsford andTarrytown.
Tim Mahoney, vice president of Real Estate for Stop & Shop, said the grocer plans to invest approximately $4 million in tenant improvements and equipment into its new store, which straddles the Greenburgh/Tarrytown border. He said the company would employ about 200 workers, 80% of which will be full-time.
Stop & Shop, which is headquartered inQuincy,MA, will eventually close its 19,000-square-foot location at 350 South Broadway at theRidgePlazainTarrytownat the junction of Route 119 and Broadway. Mahoney said that Stop & Shop operates that location under a longterm lease and has reached a sublease agreement with CVS for an approximately 15,000-square-foot store at the shopping center. Mahoney said that Stop & Shop will also secure a small grocer to fill the remaining space at the center.
The 14-acre property that will now be calledPremierPlazain the 1970s was
home to the Westchester Premier Theater. Entertainment icons such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Diana Ross played to sold-out crowds, however, the theater was dogged by allegations of ties to organized crime and was eventually closed and the theater demolished.
Now that the first mixed-use has been granted in a Westchester office park, the question will be whether other uses, particularly residential housing, will be proposed in what are now underutilized office parks in Westchester, particularly those lining either side of the Cross Westchester Expressway from Rye to Tarrytown. The county issued a report entitled “Office Park Housing: Adapting Underutilized Office Parks for Housing” in September 2010, which identified various office park properties that could accommodate affordable residential housing development.