Lighthouse partnership in shambles

Westchester County Business Journal, Dec 31, 2007 by Yurcan, Bryan F

A development agreement between General Motors and Roseland Properties L.L.C. of Short Hills, N.J., to develop the 100-acre site of a former GM plant in Sleepy Hollow was terminated Dec. 13, with the developer declaring the "opportunity is gone."

In a letter to Sleepy Hollow Mayor Philip Zegarelli, GM advised the village of the decision, without getting into specifics.

Roseland was to develop a mixed-use project at the site, called Lighthouse Landing, and had spent nearly five years performing environmental impact and site plan reviews with the village.

In 2006, Roseland/GM submitted a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), which proposed 1,250 residential units, 132,000 square feet of retail space and 35,000 square feet of office space.

The village's findings statement of the FEIS reduced the number of residential units to 1,177.

However, in August the neighboring village of Tarrytown filed a lawsuit that seeks to reduce the size of the project in order to mitigate the traffic impact on Tarrytown. Tarrytown would like to see the number of residential units halving those numbers, according to that lawsuit.

Just last month, GM also filed a notice of claim, often the precursor of a lawsuit, against the village, arguing the size of the project should be larger than the 1,177 number, according to the court documents.

GM said the village further reducing the size of the residential units was "arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion" and done solely to appease a segment of the community who opposed the project."

In letter to GM responding to their terminating the development agreement with Roseland, Zegarelli asked that the "litigation commenced by GM against the village should be either withdrawn without prejudice or put on indefinite hold as the village and GM jointly seek to work to address our mutual needs and concerns."

During a press conference Dec. 21, Zegarelli termed the dispute between GM and Roseland a "disappointment" and acknowledged it would be a slight setback for the project, but the project will still go forward.

He said five or six other developers, though he would not name them, have expressed interest.

"Some are the usual names you would think of," he said.

Zegarelli indicated the dispute between GM and Roseland stems from Roseland defaulting payments to GM, though neither side confirmed that.

The mayor said he has asked GM to move swiftly along in the process, and ideally would like to break ground during the summer of '08.

A written statement issued by Roseland read: "The terms imposed by the Village during the final stage of the environmental review process scaled back the project to the point where it became economically unviable for our company.

"Our plan for Lighthouse Landing was appropriate for the site and would have transformed a former industrial property into a vibrant and vital riverfront community. Lighthouse Landing would have provided much-needed economic benefits to the Village and School District for many generations to come. Now that opportunity is gone. This is a tremendous loss for the Village and the Tarrytown School District in particular.