New Rochelle streamlined approval processes and engaged with the local community to speed the development of thousands of new apartments.
American suburbs have struggled with red tape and community opposition to plans for more housing. Economists estimate the U.S. has a housing shortage in the millions. One New York City suburb has successfully navigated these obstacles to ramp up the construction of new downtown housing. The Westchester County city of New Rochelle has added about 2,500 apartment units over the past eight years, following a period of hardly any new multifamily supply. In all, this city of 82,000 has approved the construction of 6,300 apartment units across 30 real-estate projects near the New Rochelle train station, which is about a 40-minute ride to Manhattan.
Nearly one in five of the downtown apartments will be below market rate, boosting the city’s affordable housing stock by nearly two-thirds. Officials said they would give first preference to artists certified by the city. New Rochelle is emerging as a potential blueprint for overcoming the various political, financial, and community obstacles that have made efforts to build multifamily housing in the suburbs an often-insurmountable task.
The mayor, other city officials, and executives at RXR, the property developer that led the construction, expedited the zoning and environment review process. They also spent a year talking to city residents at public hearings, online forums, and during informal meetings to help shape the building plan and win over local opinion. “We have a model that can be replicated,” said New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson.
New Rochelle selected RXR in 2014, and the city council approved their master plan for new housing units the following year. Unlike many other cities, which approve new zoning for apartment buildings on a piecemeal basis, New Rochelle effectively approved thousands of units at once. Under this streamlined process, the city council agreed to forfeit the power to debate and raise objections to each apartment building in exchange for moving ahead quickly. RXR also played a role in speeding the development along. The New York City firm spent $2.5 million to pay consultants and for research on how the city’s land, environment, and infrastructure would accommodate thousands of new units across 300 acres.
City officials met often with community members to hear their concerns about whether adding more housing would strain public services. The city offered virtual reality goggles near the downtown to help residents visualize the new buildings and offer their feedback. Officials also met some direct requests, such as agreeing to build plazas that would host free outdoor concerts as part of the development. Finally, the city’s environmental review process enabled the developers to skip individual environmental impact statements that often deter new projects. “The secret to New Rochelle is having a comprehensive plan for what they were going to do,” said Moses Gates, vice president for housing and neighborhood planning at the Regional Plan Association. “You’re still going through all the steps that everybody else has to go through, but you’re doing it all at once.”
Apartment buildings can take years to reach approval in New York City and its suburbs. Under New Rochelle’s framework, RXR and other developers working on the project can gain approval in just 90 days. After several years of little to no housing building permits from the city, officials have approved permits for thousands of housing units since 2019.
RXR has invested nearly $1 billion in New Rochelle. The company is developing four apartment towers and more than 1,200 residential units. Two buildings are complete and leasing. Their second project, once a municipal parking lot, is now the 28-story One Clinton Park. The building is 85% leased after opening in April 2022. RXR’s first building which began leasing in 2019 is 93% full. New Rochelle created a plan that “allows developers to rule out the guesswork and uncertainty that comes along with entitling land for development,” said Joseph Graziose, an executive vice president at RXR. “That process that could take years in many municipalities is exceptionally shorter and streamlined in a place like New Rochelle.”
Now, nine developers are currently building in the city, including Cappelli Organization and Allstate Ventures. New Rochelle offers developers a standard package of tax deductions. The additional developers are following the same playbook as RXR to keep the process from getting bogged down. New Rochelle is attracting newcomers from New York City. Bee and Rog Walker and their 3-year-old daughter moved to New Rochelle from the Bronx in June 2022 after touring smaller apartments in Manhattan. They now live in a new two-bedroom apartment with a full-size kitchen and floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the Long Island Sound. Amenities include a gym and a children’s playroom. “The space is amazing,” Rog Walker said.
Not every city can follow the New Rochelle model. Nimbyism has been a formidable obstacle to new residential development across the U.S. Local political support for housing development can be especially difficult. “That’s the hardest part to replicate,” Gates said. Still, many longtime New Rochelle homeowners are impressed by the transformation of their downtown, which once contained vacant lots and a failed shopping center. Stanley Bernstein, a lawyer who has been a New Rochelle homeowner for 31 years, was initially skeptical that New Rochelle could attract large-scale development. Now, he is pleased to see the once sleepy and rundown downtown area spring to life. “I wasn’t optimistic that people were going to invest billions into downtown,” he said. “It worked. The entire downtown has been transformed.”
Edited and courtesy of WSJ and Maggie Eastland
Create and manage saved property searches with this Property Organizer —
