WPCNR SOUTH END NEWS. From North Street Community (Edited with Reporting by WPCNR) November 7, 2007: Four  months after receiving Common Council approval for their 335-unit senior condominium development on the former St. Agnes property, which took them 2-1/2 years to get approved by the city,  North Street Community has begun evaluating  offers for the property for   partnerships and “joint ventures.”

The North Street Community Project as approved July, 2007. Construction was said to have planned for this fall at the time..

“There’s so much interest in White Plains, you’d be surprised how much interest there has been,” media spokesperson Geoffrey Thompson told WPCNR Wednesday. He said the offers came from niche firms and health care provider service firms who might join the partnership in developing the property, according to a news release issued Wednesday. Selling the entire property with its approved site plan to one buyer has not been ruled out. Thompson said when asked if selling it all to one buyer, Thompson said  “It could be a possibility. ”

The property was originally purchased at auction from the New York State Dormitory Authority for $21.5 Million. Approximately $3 Million has been spent, WPCNR believes in developing the site plan and obtaining approval.

Thompson said the owners had not encountered troubles in financing the construction of the massive project.

Slew of Offers. All Things Considered.

Thompson said ground-breaking is going to be in the spring, because the group  had to complete a series of tasks and submissions, and  plans for the city prior to start of construction that  have “lost the weather.”

In the meantime, Thompson said the partners, since their approval in July, had received  “a slew” of proposals from health care provider companies “unsolicited”. Thompson said any recommendations by Cushman & Wakefield could be in the form of a “joint venture,” with a firm perhaps purchasing one part of the project, or the rights to run it, or  either the 82,000 square foot medical office piece, residential (335-unit senior condominium), or medical facilities (92 assisted living units, and 20-units for Alzheimer’s disease.

WPCNR asked Thompson if that could conceivably be an offer from one firm to purchase the entire property. Thompson said “that might be possible.”  He said that’s what Cushman & Wakefield is being retained to do, sort out the most appealing offers.

A Change of Heart

WPCNR had asked C.J. Follini when the project was approved in July if the group now that it had the project approved would consider selling the parcel with the approved site plan, and Follini had vowed that they had believed in the project, the need for it in the city,  and would build it themselves.

In the news release Wednesday,  North Street partner Alfred Caiola, one of Follini’s partners issued this statement: “Rather than deal with these inquiries in a piecemeal fashion, we’ve decided to bring in experts with the experience and understanding to assist and advise us…we always anticipated bringing in a skilled company to operate the assisted living and Alzheimer’s facilities; however, during the two-and-a-half-year approval process, many companies expressed interest in various other aspects of the project. As we focus on completing the details of the construction plans, it made sense for us to bring in experts (Cushman & Wakefield Senior Housing and Healthcare Group), to help us evaluate these interests.”

Cushman & Wakefield is expected to make recommendations as to the best offers and proposals.

The 335 condominiums were originally reported by the firm a year ago as being priced from $400,000 to $900,000 each.

The firm has spent millions in addition to its purchase price in obtaining the approval for the site plan, in addition to the $21.5 Million it paid the New York State Dormitory Authority for the property when it bought the 23-acre site at auction in December, 2004.