WPCNR THE HOUSING NEWS. By John F. Bailey. July 17, 2008 UPDATED WITH MORE PIX,5:30 P.M. E.D.T.: The Urban Renewal Agency approved restructuring the 55 Bank Street affordable housing project along the lines requested by LCOR, the developer in LCOR's meeting with the Common Council July 2.  LCOR announced $5 Million had been deposited in escrow with New York Land, intended for payment of the second installment of payment for the city municipal parking lot on Bank Street where the project is to be built.

However,  Peter Kilpatric, a senior Vice President for LCOR declined to say when the payment ( 17 days late and counting) would be paid the city. No member of the Commission asked why the money had not been paid since it has been advanced to LCOR, or what the downside was if the city refused payment and wished the land back.

The New 55 Bank Street design: 2 smaller towers, 16 and 19 stories on top of street-front retail. An above ground parking garage is to the right, extending back through the property to the rail tracks. A 28-story building rises behind the two smaller towers.

The view down Bank Street with the new strjuctures imposed on ghostings of the previous two-tower project presented today.

Kilpatric in a conciliatory introduction said the financial markets are not financing any projects in the $300 Million range at this time due to economic uncertainty, but that their financial sources said they would entertain financing projects of a $100 Million, which has driven LCOR to separate and build the project in three phases: Phase 1: the parking garage and 28-story building at the rear of the site, and an 19- story building fronting on Bank Street with street level retail, and an above ground parking garage occupying half the site.  

As part of the restructuring , the final $5 Million payment (two payments of $2.5 Million)  due the land is allowed to be paid as late as 2013, with a built-in increase based on the area Consumer Price Index growth from the original dates when the finan two installments were due ( June 30, 2009 and June 30, 2010).

The restructuring is dependent on Common Council approval of the revised site plan, which is due December 14, 150 days  from today.

Plan B!  Overhead view of the project. the parking garage will occupy entire right side of site and serve the hotel (said by Mr. Kilpatric to be very close to signing, but he would not reveal the hotelier identify). There would be a through street two ways going through the center of the project going under the ramped garage, through the hotel site, connecting with the existing Bank Street site. The garage would contain 500 spaces of parking owed the city. The elongated building on Bank Street  would contain the two towers that would be 10 stories shorter than the 28-story structure in the back of the property. Scale of project has been diminished, but the number of apartments, 536, 107 affordable remains the the same.

The new Gateway: New project layered by the magic of digital imaging onto the previous two tower design of the project -- as it would appear to a motorist driving into the city on Tarrytown Road. Lower rise building in center of picture is the new garage. The shorter building above it is one of the new towers fronting Bank Street, and the higher tower is the 28-story ediface closest the railroad tracks.

The View from Battle Hill: The 28-story new building center of this digital simulation, closest the tracks looms, with the lower level parking garage visible slight to the left.

Peter Kilpatric told WPCNR the company had not decided whether to build the housing/retail component and garage first, or the 28-story building and garage closest to the tracks first. He said the 28-story building and the garage could be built for about $160 Million.

He said potential financing sources had no problem with White Plains, it was just that financial markets were "not functioning" now. He noted the lenders advised him they could not finance $350 Million presently, but could look at smaller projects about $100 Million. This was why Kilpatric said LCOR had opted to find a way to phase the project.  He did not explain how this affected the $5 Million payment skipped in June.