Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: Plans for new MLS announced, Mack-Cali sells pair of White Plains offices … & more

<em>Clockwise from top left: LLCs shell out a total of $16M for Mack-Cali office buildings in White Plains, Briarcliff Manor home designed by UN architect is on the market, proposal to transform former IBM campus into school could improve Westchester’s office market vacancy rate, and Norwalk retail development moving forward after judge declines to hear opponents’ appeal.</em>
Clockwise from top left: LLCs shell out a total of $16M for Mack-Cali office buildings in White Plains, Briarcliff Manor home designed by UN architect is on the market, proposal to transform former IBM campus into school could improve Westchester’s office market vacancy rate, and Norwalk retail development moving forward after judge declines to hear opponents’ appeal.

Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service and Long Island MLS announce merger
The Multiple Listing Service of Long Island and the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service announced plans to merge this week. The new MLS will encompass 40,000 real estate professionals, serving Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx, and Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan and Orange Counties, according to a joint statement from the two listings services. Expected to launch in 2019, the yet-t0-be-named MLS will be lead by senior vice president of the Long Island MLS, Jim Speer. [TRD]

LLCs shell out a total of $16M for Mack-Cali office buildings in White Plains
A pair of office buildings in White Plains have sold to two different LLCs for a total of $16 million, the Westchester County Business Journal reported. 1 Barker Ave. LLC and 3 Barker Ave. LLC snapped up a six-story, 68,000-square-foot building at 1 Barker Avenue and a six-story, 65,300-square-foot building at 3 Barker Avenue from Mack-Cali Realty Corp. for $9.3 million and $6.7 million respectively. Spring Valley’s Exclusive Management, which is developing a mixed-use project at the White Plains Mall property, will manage the two properties, according to the outlet. Mack-Cali shed millions of dollars in assets last year and has continued to do so this year. The White Plains sales come as Mack-Cali continues to focus on its New Jersey markets, senior vice president of corporate communications Deidre Crockett told the outlet. [WBJ]

Department of Planning approves plans for 40-key hotel in Danbury
Danbury’s Department of Planning and Zoning approved plans to convert a school into a 40-room hotel, the Stamford Advocate reported. As part of the plan, the Paul Mitchell School, a cosmetology school that currently operates out of 2 National Place, would relocate to another part of Danbury. The three-story building would undergo an interior renovation, and the developer would add to the first floor while also creating a new patio area, according to the outlet. The hotel would likely cater to the medical community and to medical students’ relatives, since Danbury Hospital isn’t far away, sources said. “We don’t really have a hotel downtown and we need one,” City Center Danbury director Betsy Paynter told the outlet. The project will now advance to the permitting phase of development. [Stamford Advocate]

Developers propose transforming Somers IBM campus into a school
A school campus development company hopes to turn the former IBM campus in Somers into a coed private high school. Evergreen Ridge presented plans for the STEM-centric school, which would be called Somers Academy, to Somers’ Town Board, LoHud reported. The school would lease the property from 294 Route 100 LLC, which forked $31.75 million over to IBM for the office park last year. The redevelopment would require a zoning change, as the current zoning only allows for an office or college. Converting the space into a school “would significantly improve Westchester’s office market vacancy rate,” the outlet noted. “With Westchester’s current market inventory totaling about 27 million square feet, this property alone represents approximately 4.5 percent of Westchester’s entire multi-tenant market,” Howard Properties president Howard Greenberg told the outlet. [LoHud]

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Bridgeport construction company faces penalties for safety violations
A Bridgeport construction company didn’t provide sufficient safety measures or training for employees at a Bridgeport construction site and could face $146,554 in penalties, the Fairfield County Business Journal reported. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited L.L.E. Construction LLC for “failing to provide fall protection, train employees to recognize fall hazards and properly anchor fall protection equipment,” as well as failing to inspect the site or provide eye protection, among other issues. L.L.E. was previously cited by OSHA for failing to provide fall and eye protection hazards, according to the outlet. The company has 15 business days to either pay the penalty, meet informally with OSHA’s area director or dispute the charges, according to the outlet. [FBJ]

Norwalk retail development moving forward after judge declines to hear opponents’ appeal
A retail development in Norwalk called The Village will move forward after a court decided not to hear its opponents’ appeal, The Hour reported. A condominium organization called Rolling Ridge Condominium asked the Connecticut Appellate Court to hear its appeal of the development proposed for Main Avenue after a Bridgeport Superior Court judge dismissed it, according to the outlet. The developer’s landscape plan involves planting dozens of trees on the Rolling Ridge property, and its traffic plan “calls for realigning and reconfiguring exit driveways and internal parking spaces on private property across the street” — both of which Rolling Ridge residents argued the developer didn’t have a right to do. Residents also had concerns about the traffic the development would bring to the neighborhood. “Their certification has been denied so in our view the judgment is now final and our client can proceed with the development in accordance with the decision of the zoning commission,” attorney Peter Nolin, who represented the property owner, told the outlet. [The Hour]

Briarcliff Manor home designed by UN, Rockefeller Center architect is on the market
A Briarcliff Manor home designed by renowned architect Wallace Harrison — who was instrumental in designing the United Nations headquarters, Rockefeller Center and Lincoln Center — is on the market for $1.35 million, LoHud reported. Harrison finished work on the historic four-bedroom, four-bathroom house on Long Hill Road in 1939. The 4,352-square-foot home built of fieldstone and stucco was purchased by its current owners in 2001 and has “lots of original features, including two 50-foot corridors, circular windows and doors and a charming circular staircase made of bamboo,” according to the outlet. It also sits on 4.5 acres of lawn and greenery.Houlihan Lawrence brokers Tina Messina and Sharon Bodnar Briskman have the listing. [LoHud]