Cuddy & Feder’s team of Land Use, Zoning & Development and Finance attorneys recently came together to represent 30 Broad Development LLC (a subsidiary of the local development company, St. Katherine Group) to secure approvals for a new project envisioned by 30 Broad’s principal Nick Williams. Cuddy & Feder’s team, led by Anthony B. Gioffre III, Eon Nichols, and Daniel Patrick, assisted the client and its design professionals in obtaining approvals to construct and finance a new mixed-use development directly across the street from the Metro-North Train Station in the heart of Port Chester. The team was able to navigate the zoning process and successfully secured entitlement approvals from various Village agencies including the Village’s Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Industrial Development Agency (IDA) for the approximately 40,000 s/f, 9-story project.

The Village of Port Chester has been striving over the past few years to capitalize on its various assets including the Metro-North Train Station, waterfront, and the historic Capitol Theater. These opportunities continue to attract developers who are eager to work with the Village to achieve its goals set forth in the Village’s Comprehensive Plan adopted in 2012 and the Plan the Port Character-Based Zoning Code adopted in May 2020. The Village’s goals include revitalizing its commercial areas, creating opportunities through mixed-use development, capitalizing on its train station through effective transit-oriented development, and improving the Village’s housing stock to attract young professionals and “empty-nesters.”

The project, known as 30 Broad for its location at 30 Broad Street & 136-138 Irving Avenue, is a perfect illustration of the type of transit-oriented, community-conscious development that will come to define Port Chester’s redevelopment. 30 Broad is a truly mixed-use project that will include a brewpub, office space, and residential units. The development was originally approved in May 2020 with brewpub space on the ground-floor and second floor, office spaces on the third through fifth floors, and 22 residential units throughout the sixth through ninth floors. The Village Planning Commission approved market-driven amendments to the proposal at its March 2021 meeting replacing two floors of approved office space with 14 additional residential units for a total of 36 residential units.

30 Broad will complement and support two of Port Chester’s greatest assets, the Metro-North Train Station and the Capitol Theater, while providing significant economic benefits to the community. The project will facilitate the return of industrial jobs with 8 expected full-time brewers. The brewpub, Run & Hide Brewery, will be led by successful, local restauranteur, Tim Shanley. 30 Broad and the Run & Hide Brewery will draw visitors from around the Hudson Valley, New York City and beyond, as well as benefit surrounding businesses by increasing foot traffic and activating the Village’s streetscape. In addition to the 200 temporary construction jobs to be created, 30 Broad is expected to revive the property with 42 permanent full-time and 6 part-time jobs. These permanent job opportunities represent an increase of over five times the number of jobs generated by the property in its current condition.

Throughout the review process, the development team worked tirelessly with a local real estate agent to assist residential and commercial tenants of the existing buildings to find suitable replacement space after the expiration of their leases. The project is also improving the housing stock by providing attractive new units for commuters and by offering 10% of its residential units at rents affordable to tenants whose household income does not exceed 60% area median income.

Cuddy & Feder’s team worked with the developers to balance the provisions of the Village’s former Zoning Code with the goals of the Village expressed in its Comprehensive Plan and the then-draft Character-Based Code. In the end, Cuddy & Feder’s team was effective in obtaining area variance relief from the Village Zoning Board of Appeals for height, density and other variances that were crucial for the developers being able to design an economically feasible project that provides significant community benefits.

After its success in obtaining area variance relief in December 2019, the project continued its review before the Village Planning Commission where the project received site plan approval at its May 2020 and amended site plan approval at its March 2021 meeting. These approvals and the project’s clear economic benefits led Cuddy & Feder’s Finance team to work with the developer to obtain financing assistance from the Port Chester IDA.

This is just one example of Cuddy & Feder’s recent accomplishments in assisting clients to navigate the local entitlements and financing process in the Village of Port Chester and throughout the Hudson Valley region. Our team remains enthusiastic about continuing to effectively represent its clients through an increasingly regulated environment to help meet development goals while bringing improvements and benefits to communities.