STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After a plan for 646 luxury senior housing units on the former Nassau Smelting and Refinery site was shot down by the community and elected officials, its developers say they are willing to go back to the drawing board.
The developers -- the Manhattan-based Bridgewater Capital and Alpha Group -- recently had their hired architect, Jay Valgora of the Manhattan-based Studio V Architecture, air the proposed Mill Creek Place plan at a Community Board 3 land-use meeting, where it was met with staunch opposition.
"We didn't want to force anything down the community's throat. We didn't have any preconceived notions," said William Segal, principal of Alpha Equity Group, at an Advance Editorial Board meeting on Monday about the project.
"We bought the property because we thought the community was ripe for further development. And we were open to taking the property in many different directions, depending on what the community wanted. ...This was a bumpy road from the beginning. ... We were not met with open arms," he added.
Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore) and Borough President James Oddo have expressed opposition to the the plan, which would require a zone change from manufacturing to residential. Borrelli said he would be more inclined to favor a use for the site that is allowed under the current zoning, which includes industrial, retail and office uses.
PUBLIC MEETING
Segal said there will be a public charrette -- sometime in June -- where focus groups, made up of anyone in the community interested in participating, will be invited to gather and come up with alternative plans for the site. An architect will be on hand to guide the groups through the process.
"We want to come up with something that everyone will take pride in the same way we will take pride in building it," said Segal.
"As aggressive buyers as we are we have to take contingencies into account. We are OK developing industrial, and we are also OK developing commercial or retail," he added.
RUMORS PUT TO REST
Rumors that circulated throughout the community included that the developers were building 800 housing units, as well as units that would qualify for Section 8 housing.
Neither were ever part of the plan, Segal said.
"We were extremely sensitive about this issue from the very beginning. We have always done free market builds. We have no experience with (Section 8) housing and it's not something we would ever do," he added.
THE PLAN
The developers' plan initially called for the creation of a "walkable mixed-use wellness community" that would include about 150,000 square feet of retail, medical offices, urgent care families and in-home care services.
While they are willing to scrap the residential portion of the plan, the developers said they would still consider one aspect of the project -- a fast ferry from the site to downtown Manhattan -- that would be beneficial to South Shore commuters, said Segal.
He admitted that the clean-up of the contaminates dumped there when it was a smelting plant and refinery were not cleaned up by the prior owner, Lucent Technologies, in a way suitable for housing to be built on the site.
If housing were to be built, it would be a "multi-million dollar" clean-up that would include bringing up the cap on the site another foot, among other improvements that would adhere to State Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) regulations, he said.
However, if the developer creates an alternative plan allowed under the zoning, no additional remediation would be required, Segal added.
COST OF THE LAND
While the purchase price of the land recorded on the deed of sale -- which was provided to the Advance by Borelli -- is $11.5 million, Segal said there were other expenses, including "buying out an initial partner," that increased their expenses.
"There were a tremendous amount of additional costs associated with the transaction, including a partner buyout, pre-development costs and carry costs until we get to the development stage," he said.
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