Developer Proposes Yorktown Green Transformation

Rendering of Proposed New Building at Yorktown Green

A major real estate company has proposed a mixed-use transformation for the mostly vacant Yorktown Green shopping center.

Oster Properties of Englewood Cliffs, N.J. met with the Town Board Tuesday night to unveil their concepts for a residential-retail complex that would demolish the defunct, 90,000-square-foot Kmart. The replacement U-shaped building would include 150 units of one- and two-bedroom residences in a four-story building with ground floor retail, underground parking for residents and a small park in the center of the residential footprint.

“The concept of this is to provide alternatives to empty nesters or young millennials,” said Oster’s attorney Darius Chafizadeh. “This would allow them to stay in town, or young ones to come back into your town and live here and be able to afford it without having to pay high property taxes.”

The almost 15-acre property at 335 Downing Drive has two empty anchor tenant buildings. A former supermarket at the shopping center has been empty for almost 10 years, but Oster’s representatives said they have an “exciting” tenant in lease negotiations. The market-rate housing component includes 84 one-bedrooms and 66 two-bedrooms. Price points for the housing are undetermined.

“Throughout the retail world there’s a rethinking of how retail spaces are designed to service the world,” said Matthew Jarmel, Oster’s architect. “This Kmart is empty because of e-commerce. What we see as architects and as planners is that many retail centers—and some very large shopping malls as well that we’re working on—are being repositioned to mixed use.”

Concept Site Plan for Yorktown Green

Oster Properties owns more than two million square feet in northern New Jersey and it manages about 500 apartment units. Oster’s retail holdings include the Foster Village Shopping Center in Bergenfield, N.J.

“This proposal recognizes the evolving economy that we are facing, especially e-commerce,” said Supervisor Matt Slater. “Yorktown Green has languished for too long and this is an important first step In the review process for a transformational project that is integral to the overall success of our downtown. We look forward to a continued dialogue regarding this critically important site.”

Oster has not submitted a site plan application to the town, the first step in a public review process. Oster’s representatives said that an application is in its final stages and would be submitted to the town within weeks.

“I think this is a smart development both from a commercial and residential point of view,” said Councilwoman Alice Roker.

Councilman Ed Lachterman said he owns a massage therapy business in White Plains, where he has seen large mixed-use developments rise.

“I look at a place like this and I think this is a place where I would open another (massage) studio,” Lachterman said.