Westchester & Fairfield Cheat Sheet: Trumbull draws in new dev, theater-to-apartment conversion kicks off … & more

<em>Clockwise from top left: YoungCraft breaks ground on mixed-use development in New Rochelle, luxury rental building opens in White Plains after zoning change, Westchester leasing ‘moderately’ improves, and Cos Cob real estate agency sells TD Bank property in Darien for $6.9M.</em>
Clockwise from top left: YoungCraft breaks ground on mixed-use development in New Rochelle, luxury rental building opens in White Plains after zoning change, Westchester leasing ‘moderately’ improves, and Cos Cob real estate agency sells TD Bank property in Darien for $6.9M.

Fairfield commercial leasing activity shows ‘vote of confidence,’ Westchester activity ‘moderately’ improves
Fairfield County’s leasing activity showed a “vote of confidence” for the area, according to a new report. Leasing in the county “reached its highest point since the end of 2016 — hitting 980,000 square feet of leasing activity,” according to CBRE’s third quarter Westchester/Fairfield County office market reports. Leasing isn’t doing poorly in Westchester County either, where activity “moderately improved from last quarter,” the report says. Westchester County also experienced “the highest volume of new leasing since [the second quarter of 2017].” One factor that helped improve conditions was the former IBM campus in Somers being pulled off the market amid plans to turn it into a STEM-centric high school. “Removing the IBM campus from the market had a huge impact on the county’s availability rate and its absorption — Westchester County’s accumulated negative absorption was erased when this property was pulled from the market,” CBRE’s William V. Cuddy Jr. said. [CBRE Fairfield, Westchester]

YoungCraft breaks ground on mixed-use development in New Rochelle
Developer YoungCraft broke ground on an approximately 160,000-square-foot mixed-use project in New Rochelle, the developer announced. The development, dubbed the Rockwell, will be “the most significant new project on the North Avenue corridor in generations,” New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson said. The project will include 114 apartments, a rooftop terrace, a community lounge, 22,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 207 parking spaces, according to the developer. The project — which is named for Norman Rockwell, a onetime New Rochelle resident — is slated to wrap up in the summer of 2020. [New Rochelle NY]

Cos Cob real estate agency sells TD Bank property in Darien for $6.9M
Cos Cob-based Chimblo Family Real Estate sold a 4,380-square-foot property in Darien for $6.9 million, the Fairfield County Business Journal reported. TD Bank has been leasing the property, and has approximately seven years left on its lease, the outlet reported. The deal was done through a 1031 exchange. The  property on Boston Post Road is near a Costco, a DoubleTree hotel and a Chipotle. [FBJ]

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Trumbull is “the place to be” as development in the town stays strong
Development is on the rise in Trumbull, the Fairfield County Business Journal reported. Two new housing developments — one on Reservoir Avenue and one on Oakview Drive — recently secured approval from the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission and several businesses are planning to set up in the town, including a daycare and preschool operator, a baseball academy, a dialysis center and a facility that provides transport for special needs children. “Developers are increasingly looking to come to this area, which is ripe for these types of projects,” First Selectman Vicki Tesoro told the publication, adding that Trumbull is “the place to be.” A mall proposal that will bring 290 apartments to Trumbull, meanwhile, recently a zoning change it needed approved by the commission. [FBJ]

Developer breaks ground on luxury apartment project rising around movie theater
A Mamaroneck-based developer is building 36 luxury apartments around a now-shuttered movie theater, the Westchester County Business Journal reported. Verco Properties broke ground on a development called the Harrison Playhouse Lofts, which will rise around a “1920s-era theater [in Harrison] that played its last picture more than a decade ago,” according to the outlet. Verco Properties partner John Verni said the project will revitalize the town’s downtown area. “For too long Harrison has had a downtown that did not match the vibrancy of this great town,” he said at the project’s groundbreaking. “Today, that is going to change.” Verco plans to refurbish the retail spaces at the site and install a coffee shop. The developer shelled out around $2.5 million for the former theater in 2006. [WBJ]

Luxury rental building opens in White Plains after zoning change
A 65-unit luxury rental building has opened in White Plains. Norden Lofts is “the first residential development built since a zoning change allowed construction of apartments in the area,” LoHud reported. The six-story building replaced an industrial structure at the site that had been vacant for years, according to the outlet. The development includes 42 studios, 20 one-bedroom apartments and five-two bedroom apartments, with rents ranging from $2,000 to $3,650 per month. The development’s basement houses a bocce court, fitness center, lounge area and club room. The building is also home to a pet-grooming station and bike racks. “I think this will attract people from New York City who are not looking to live in traditional suburban neighborhoods,” Marsha Rand, the head of Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty, told the publication. [LoHud]