Massive rental complex planned for Westchester hotel site after $71M sale

Rose Equities, Wilf family plan 760-unit project on former Renaissance Hotel property in Harrison

Former Westchester Renaissance Hotel at 80 West Red Oak Lane and Garden Communities’ Zygi Wilf (Loopnet, Linkedin, Getty)
Former Westchester Renaissance Hotel at 80 West Red Oak Lane and Garden Communities’ Zygi Wilf (Loopnet, Linkedin, Getty)

The former site of a Renaissance Hotel in Westchester County is set for a rebirth as a massive apartment complex if local officials sign off on the developer’s plans.

California-based housing developer Rose Equities and Garden Communities, the property management arm of the Wilf family’s New Jersey-based Garden Homes, acquired a 28-acre parcel for $71 million from a joint venture between investment firm Renatus Group and an affiliate of the Connecticut-based hedge fund Silver Point Capital, records show.

The buyers are planning to turn the 80 West Oak Lane property into a 760-unit mixed-use project called the Renaissance Harrison, according to a release from Garden Communities and Rose Equities. New York Yimby was first to report on the proposed redevelopment.

The project will be built in two phases, each phase consisting of a residential quad with one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury apartments spanning an average of 1,200 square feet, plus outdoor gathering spaces and triplex villas. About 5 percent of the units will be set aside as affordable.

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The development will also include about 2,500 square feet of retail and below-ground parking garages, the Rockland/Westchester Journal News reported. The project is expected to cost between $400 million and $500 million to develop, according to the Westchester & Fairfield County Business Journals.

Plans are being reviewed by the Harrison Planning Board and will need to undergo a state-mandated environmental review before construction can begin. The project is in the entitlement stage and the developers are hoping to receive approval by the end of next year, which would allow work to begin in 2024.

The 348-room Renaissance Westchester Hotel, built in 1978, went from being temporarily closed by the pandemic to permanently shuttered last year, setting the stage for a sale and redevelopment. Talks with Silver Point and Westchester-based Renatus began soon after, and the investors bought the shuttered hotel for an estimated $18.8 million late last year.

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