Cappelli to develop $70M Ossining waterfront project.

A formal agreement has been signed between the Village of Ossining and Cappelli Enterprises setting the stage for construction of Harbor square, a $70 million redevelopment on the Hudson River waterfront of this historic riverfront community.

The agreement between the Valhalla, NY-based developer and the Village was signed at a ceremony held March 18th on the Hudson River shore overlooking the Harbor square site. With more than 100 local, county and state officials and community leaders looking on, Louis R. Cappelli, president of Cappelli Enterprises, and Mayor Thomas Cambariere inked the agreement that promises to put Ossining in the redevelopment forefront among Hudson River communities.

Harbor square will be constructed on former industrial property on the Hudson shoreline adjacent to Ossining's MetroNorth railroad station. The project is designed to maximize public access to the riverfront while providing exciting new housing and waterfront commercial opportunities.

Mayor Cambariere said that the signing of the agreement is the culmination of more than 20 years of planning efforts to come up with a viable proposal for the Village's waterfront. "This is a very important step for our community, one that couldn't have been accomplished without the involvement and input of our citizens," he said. "The development agreement we have signed today is the result of a process that has evolved over many years and incorporates the thinking and ideas of a broad cross-section of our community."

The Mayor said he and the members of the Village Board had wanted to ensure that any riverfront plan would include significant public access. "We feel that this plan does exactly that," he said. "We now look forward to moving expeditiously with the environmental studies for this proposal. This is just the start for a true revival of Ossining's waterfront. With a new ferry service linking us with Rockland County and other projects now falling into place, we are moving forward in a very positive way."

Harbor square is a mixed-use project including residential, commercial and public amenity components. It includes a public park and waterfront esplanade and public amphitheater, 320 units of new, mixed residential housing, a Marriott Residence Inn hotel, a three-level, 640-space commuter parking garage, a world-class waterfront restaurant and waterfront retail shops.

"We are very pleased that our company has been selected to play this major role in the redevelopment of Ossining's waterfront," said Cappelli. "The village's position on the shore of the Hudson River offers great potential as both a place to live and for general public access. Harbor square will be one of the premier waterfront projects in the Hudson Valley. It is designed to provide both a great, new housing opportunity and new access for the public to the riverfront. We believe that this project will serve as a model for riverfront redevelopment for communities all along the Hudson."

Harbor square is being designed to serve as a catalyst not only for a revival along the waterfront, but to stimulate new investment and redevelopment along Main Street, which links Ossining's waterfront to Route 9, the major north-south corridor connecting the Hudson River communities along the eastern shore of the river.

"The downtown Ossining business district is fortunate to have hundreds of beautiful vintage Victorian-style buildings constructed in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century," Cappelli said. "Harbor square is directly tied to Main Street as well as the river, and will serve as a destination that will draw people not only to the riverfront, but also to Main Street."

Harbor square includes property on both sides of the MetroNorth right-of-way. The project includes three parcels: the seven-acre riverfront parcel west of the railroad, the parking structure parcel and a second housing parcel on the east side. All three, by design, are tied to Main Street.

Cappelli will develop the riverfront parcel first. Specifically, it will include 216 units of upscale and affordable housing, equally divided between for-sale and rental units. The first level of the development will include 20,000 square feet of retail space for shops oriented to the residents and waterfront visitors. Also included in this segment of Harbor square will be a fitness center, a swimming pool and a 7,000 to 10,000 square-foot, world-class waterfront restaurant.

A key component of the waterfront portion of Harbor square is the creation of a public waterfront esplanade along the riverfront, as well as an amphitheater for small concerts and other events. "The idea of this project is to make the riverfront accessible as it has never been in the past," said Joseph Apicella, vice president and project director for Cappelli. "We have worked closely with the village to ensure that the project will be an asset both to those who live there and to the greater Ossining community."

The second parcel of Harbor square is on the east side of the railroad and will be developed with the three-level commuter parking garage with a Marriott Residence Inn built above it. The parking garage will rise immediately adjacent to the MetroNorth station and will have direct access to the station. It will accommodate cars that now park in spaces scattered in lots around the railroad station.

The new garage will be built on some of what is now surface parking area. Consolidating commuter parking in the garage, in turn, will free up space on the west side of the tracks now used by commuters for use by visitors to Harbor square, and there will be an overall net increase in parking on the project site. Once completed, the garage will be turned over to the Village for $1. The Village will then work closely with the MTA in operating the garage.

The Marriott Residence Inn will include 60 to 80 overnight and extended-stay executive suites. "This is an excellent location for this kind of hotel," Apicella explained. "From a practical point of view, it utilizes the parking in the garage as well as space above the garage. It will afford incomparable river views and will have direct access to the train station, which offers a 45-minute commute to Midtown Manhattan. It also should do very well in Westchester, where high-quality hotel rooms are in very short supply."

Harbor square's third parcel fronts on Main Street east of the railroad and the parking-hotel complex on the Village's present Department of Public Works property. It will include 104 units of rental and for-sale housing. Twenty-four of these units will be townhouses and front on Main Street. Mayor Cambariere said the townhouses are intended to bring new life to this area of Main Street. The balance of the units will be built in a mid-rise building adjacent to the townhouses. A public park will also be created on this property, accenting the Kinder Brook which runs through it.

The architect for Harbor square is Do H. Chung and Partners of Stamford, CT, which has designed a wide range of projects including much-praised redevelopment projects on the waterfront in Stamford and elsewhere. Chung said his firm has configured the Harbor square housing to maximize water views. The design will be traditional New England-style architecture to complement the surrounding village.

"Ossining has waited a long time for a major new investment of this nature," Mayor Cambariere explained. "We have worked closely with our residents and the Cappelli company to come up with a project that fits well in the community and that blends both public and private uses. We believe that Harbor square will spur other new investment, notably in the Main Street corridor. With the waterfront opened up for both public and residential uses, with the new parking and hotel at the station, with the new construction on both the waterfront and Main Street, we think the critical mass that is needed to stimulate other new development on Main Street will be in place."