WPCNR THE DEVELOPER NEWS. By John F. Bailey. September 12, 2007: By coincidence, the same day Cappelli Enterprises announced it would not send in qualifications to the White Plains RFQ request for Station area development,  The Director for the Westchester-Connecticut Division of Reckson, John Barnes, announced  his company would.

The Men from Reckson Quietly Step in. John Barnes of Reckson, right, and Michael Zarin of Zarin & Steinmetz, appeared before the Council of Neighborhood Associations Tuesday evening, saying they were going full speed ahead with the city Request for Qualifications for the railroad station area.

 Barnes told WPCNR Reckson,  a division of SL Green, Inc, the country leader in Class A Office Space properties, would continue compiling its qualifications to develop the area around the White Plains train station area. He told WPCNR it was not quite clear to him what the status of the Request for Qualifications procedure was Tuesday night. ( The RFQ process was thrown into a state of suspended animation last week when the RFQ process was rejected as favoring one developer by four members of the Common Council).

What to do with the RFQ in a Holding Pattern?

Barnes said his company was proceeding as if the RFQ  was still in effect and that the company credentials  would be considered by the city. He said he would be contacting City Hall for direction in the near future.

 A call to city hall this morning by WPCNR, asking what position the Mayor’s Office was taking towards submissions from developers to the Council-denounced RFQ , indicated a decision on how it would handle submissions to the RFQ that are received has not be formulated yet

Asked if Reckson would consider partnering with other developers eventually should the Reckson yet-to-be-articulated station proposal be accepted by the Common Council, Mr. Barnes told WPCNR it was premature, but did not rule out a collaboration. Right now Barnes said Reckson was enterting the process, getting ideas of what residents wanted for the city.

Cappelli Enterprises had entered on this process last month at the Council of Neighborhood Associations.

Enter the CNA

Last night, Mr. Barnes and Michael Zarin of Zarin & Steinmetz, appeared at the same Council before fourteen representatives of the neighborhoods to get the representatives’ input on what they envisioned for the station area.

In roundrobin fashion, each representative asked a question, expressing their concerns. The consensus was the persons attending did not want 50-story towers, they wanted more open space even a park around the station, and most did not see any serious problems with the present Metro North Railroad Station. They wanted the density of the buildings limited, perhaps to 28 stories. No one said how many buildings they wanted.  Another theme that came up was the need  to have the buildings lower than the 40 and 50-story buildings at Mamaroneck and Main, an indirect criticism of the Station Square proposal shown them by Joseph Apicella of Cappelli Enterprises last month. Emphasis on more inclusion of the community in planning was also voiced sharply by some CNA representatives.

Offer of extensive community involvement

In his remarks, Barnes said Reckson “focused” on building “Class A Office Space,” owning 600,000 square feet of office properties in White Plains. He told the gathering, the station area “is of interest to us. We think there’s an opportunity there, and we’d certainly like to participate.” He said they were in a process of “speaking to everyone as to what’s important to the city, to the community, and to the administration.” He described what he had learned so far was that “open space is important to the city, the station is an important gateway to the city and whatever you do there has to be some kind of gateway to the city. Some glitzy slide show to sell you on what we think is right for the city,” was not appropriate.  “We want the opportunity to participate. We are in receipt of the RFQ …we’re here to  collect a menu of ideas (from you)…we want to hear what you have to say.”

Barnes went as far as saying a public park at the station was a major part of their preliminary plans, but said they had not brought an architect “on board” yet.

Michael Zarin of Zarin & Steinmetz of White Plains, attorney for Reckson promised the possibility of an extensive outreach for citizen input should Reckson be selected as the Designated Redeveloper (though the process rejected by four members of the Common Council last week) made reference to Newburgh where his law firm conducted an intense planning process with that city’s citizens and city government to articulate a major development that city is planning. Zarin said a team of 35 professionals and 10 consultants met with citizens and stakeholders in Newburgh in what he described “a good grassroots planning effort.” He said assured that Reckson wanted to be responsible to the comprehensive plan for the station area, define the character of the area, and have “serious public open space.”

Zarin said using public money for the planning of  what could be done at the station (the studies called for), is “a major component of what we’re thinking about.”

Zarin assured Marc Pollitzer that Reckson would include the people of the city “in a rational planning process, to do something that is really great and memorable project for White Plains. Reckson has the resources and capability. We’re all for a full-blown process.”

No Pressure from Reckson. Guarded Optimism on Office Space Volatility

Barnes said ‘I’m not going to sit here and tell you there’s a gun to your head and it’s now or never.”

Barnes said when asked about the office space market, said “At the end of the day, we’ll eventually run a process, even if the economic cycle is not making sense now.”

He said in the next year and a half he was seeing Class A Office space problems now. In the next 2-1/2 to 3 years, it might not be (having problems). “It’s not do (now) or die,” he said.

He was asked if he was planning the same number of buildings with the same heights as the Station Square project.

Barnes said he had “trouble making sense of their (Cappelli Enterprises) numbers,” and said the Reckson thinking was the project would not be as high as the Station Square concept, “but sizable enough to not put up a wall across Battle Hill, and put a viable product that Reckson can afford to build.”

Reckson’s Barnes said “I don’t plan 50 story towers, but sometimes that makes sense. “ He promised whatever the project turns out to be, it would eventually be of economic benefit to the city.

Asked about Reckson requiring Payments In Lieu of Taxes, Barnes said “PILOTS create issues. You plan then present. The planning goes with the costs. You try and fit your plan into all that evaluation.”

Reckson’s Barnes did not rule out a PILOT.