BOMA Westchester roundtable focuses on state of county’s big cities

White Plains, NY City leaders from New Rochelle, White Plains and Yonkers provided their perspective on the state of their cities and the potential of future development and job growth at a roundtable hosted by BOMA Westchester on March 9^th. The three leaders also discussed their cities’ real estate booms and governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed housing mandates.

White Plains mayor Tom Roach, Yonkers mayor Mike Spano and New Rochelle deputy city manager/development commissioner Adam Salgado joined BOMA Westchester president Scott Tangredi of Reckson and moderator Kevin Plunkett of Simone Development Companies for a discussion about residential real estate in Westchester County’s cities.

Plunkett asked the leaders what governor Hochul’s New York Housing Compact to build 800,000 new units means for cities that already have residential development underway.

Hochul’s proposal has stirred opposition among some elected officials because it threatens to circumvent local housing density rules.

“We all know there’s a housing crisis in New York State, and I give her a lot of credit for taking decision to make it front and center,” said Spano, adding that Yonkers will meet or exceed Hochul’s housing target. “Local control is a question mark for me. I don’t think that we should lose local control.”

Roach said that he did not sign a recent letter by Westchester municipal officials challenging Hochul’s proposal. “When you want to bring jobs and new businesses into your community, they want to see the people that they’re going to hire either already live there, or will be excited to come live there,” said Roach. “If you get to the point where there’s just not enough units to accommodate the people that want to be there, it creates a problem, and I think that’s where we are.”

Salgado said the New York Housing Compact will not affect New Rochelle significantly. “Essentially, we’ve already achieved a lot of the goals that are in the housing compact,” said Salgado. “We’re just looking for opportunities to further enhance what we’re doing in New Rochelle.”