AvalonBay breaks ground on 143-unit Harrison project
A trio of mixed-use buildings will rise next to the Metro-North train station in Harrison as part of a $76.8 million project that hopes to revitalize the village’s downtown area, LoHud reported. AvalonBay Communities, a real estate investment trust and one of the nation’s largest apartment landlords, broke ground on the Halstead Avenue site on June 7. The project is a partnership between AvalonBay, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Harrison, which this week unveiled a new PATH station. The 143-unit development will have a trio of four-story buildings with ground-floor retail spaces, as well as a new 598-space parking garage and two pedestrian plazas. The Daily Voice Plus reported that the first two residential towers are expected to be finished by 2021. Among its various amenities will be a fitness center, community room, game room and a lounge. “After years of hard work and persistence by everyone involved — we couldn’t be happier to be part of the groundbreaking of Harrison’s Halstead Avenue project,” Harrison Supervisor Ron Belmont wrote in a Facebook post, according to LoHud. While construction takes place, Metro-North plans to provide alternate parking. [LoHud]
Former CBS News anchor seeks $3.3M for Darien home
Scott Pelley, a former host of CBS Evening News and current “60 Minutes” correspondent, has put his Darien home on the market, Realtor.com first reported. Pelley, who claims he lost his anchor job after complaining about an allegedly hostile work environment at CBS News, is seeking $3.25 million for the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom Colonial home at 5 Peach Hill Road — less than the $4 million he paid for it back in 2007. While taking a loss “isn’t ideal… it seems realistic in this case,” said Realtor.com, citing local sales prices for single-family homes. The roughly 7,500-square-foot house, which was built in 1998 and sits on 2.4 acres, is surrounded by foliage and has a pond in its back yard. It also has a “dramatic double staircase,” said Realtor.com, and a library and finished basement. The outlet noted it takes about an hour to drive from the home, listed with Houlihan Lawrence’s Keiley Fuller, to CBS’ headquarters in midtown Manhattan. [Realtor.com]
Georgian manor in pricey Armonk enclave lists for $6.9M
An estate located in an exclusive Armonk enclave has hit the market for $6.9 million, Mansion Global reported. The 11,700-square-foot, Georgian manor at 3 Cowdray Park Drive sits on around 12.5 acres in Conyers Farm, a community straddling the New York-Connecticut border that has counted filmmaker Ron Howard and former National Basketball Association star Allan Houston among its notable residents. The five-bedroom home’s various amenities include five fireplaces, three garages, a backyard pool, gym, media room, wet bar, a 5,000-bottle wine cellar and a “man cave.” Conyers Farm hosts polo matches every summer and provides its residents with a sense of seclusion, listing agent Monica Webster of Douglas Elliman told Mansion Global. “It’s more about the privacy and the community because the lots are 12 acres in zoning and you don’t see your neighbors ever, ever, ever,” she said. [Mansion Global]
Trump’s “starter” mansion in Greenwich gets a big price cut
A roughly six-acre estate in Greenwich that was once owned by President Donald Trump and his ex-wife Ivana Trump has returned to the market at a nearly 30 percent discount, the Wall Street Journal reported. The 19,773-square-foot home at 21 Vista Drive now has a $38.5 million ask, far less than the $58 million it initially sought when hitting the market in early 2015. The property, which includes a five-car garage and three staff apartments, is now owned by financier Robert Sternberg and his wife, Suzanne. The couple bought the home for $15 million in 1998 from Ivana Trump, who held onto the property following her 1992 divorce from the current president. The home has eight bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a tennis court, a movie theater, a private dock on Indian Harbor, a putting green, an outdoor pool and a guesthouse with an indoor swimming pool. Joseph Barbieri of Sotheby’s International Realty in Greenwich, where the high-end home sales market has sagged this year, has the listing. [TRD] — Mario Marroquin
Macy’s divests Galleria shopping mall store for $27M
Cincinnati-based retail giant Macy’s has agreed to sell its site at the Galleria shopping mall in White Plains, but it isn’t closing the anchor store, the Daily Voice Plus reported. Macy’s sold the property to mall owner WP Galleria Realty LP for $27 million, but plans to lease the space and keep operating “as it does today,” a spokesperson told the outlet, adding that the company “has been reviewing its real estate portfolio across the country to see if there are opportunities to improve the use of [its] assets.” The mall owner is part of Pacific Retail Capital Partners, an El Segundo, California-based private equity firm with $1.5 billion in retail assets. Pacific Capital paid nearly $120 million to buy the Galleria in 2016, according to LoHud, and the buyout shop has acquired other suburban mall properties in recent years. In a statement, Pacific Retail said the purchase of the Macy’s site “demonstrates [its] ongoing commitment to the White Plains community and the Galleria, which has been a signature element of the city’s downtown since opening almost 40 years ago.” [TRD]
Former U.S. soccer star lists Bedford Corners home at $2M
It seems that Bruce Willis isn’t the only famous homeowner looking to cash out of Bedford Corners. Realtor.com reported this week that Claudio Reyna, a former captain of the U.S. national men’s soccer team, had listed his Colonial home on a five-acre parcel for $2.1 million. The potential purchase price for the 5,187-square-foot home at 19 Bayberry Lane is about $300,000 less than Reyna and his wife, Danielle, bought it for in 2007, according to property records. The home touts a new gourmet chef’s kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances and TK. Reyna, whose eldest surviving son is now a burgeoning star on the U.S. junior men’s soccer team, currently serves as director of football operations for New York City FC, a Major League Soccer franchise that plays its home games at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Reyna’s Westchester County home is about an hour-long commute into Manhattan. Gina New of Ginnel Real Estate has the listing. [Realtor.com] — Brian Baxter
Construction starts on $23M mixed-use building in New Rochelle
CAC Realty Group broke ground last week on a 6-story apartment building in New Rochelle, according to the Daily Voice Plus. The Rye-based developer’s building on Huguenot Street, known as the Huguenot and covered by The Real Deal in its Tri-State issue in February, will have 60 units, including 57 studio and one-bedroom apartments, and a trio of three-bedrooms. The Huguenot will also house retail space on its ground floor, a portion of which will include an art gallery. The project’s garage, meanwhile, will have a “mechanical carousel parking system,” the DVP reported. New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson called the groundbreaking “yet another significant step forward in our efforts to build an economically and culturally vibrant downtown.” The building has been designed by Brooklyn-based Doban Architecture. [DVP]
IDA grants nearly $2M to Harrison medical center developer
The developer of a $61 million medical office project in Harrison has secured $1.7 million in tax exemptions, the Daily Voice Plus reported. The Westchester Industrial Development Agency granted approval for the exemptions to the Bronx-based Simone Development Companies, which is renovating and expanding a vacant office building into a pediatric medical center and cancer treatment center, according to the outlet. Simone, a family-run business that specializes in health care real estate, a year ago secured a long-term lease with the Montefiore Medical Center for its Hutchison Metro Center in the Bronx. Montefiore now plans to lease the pediatric center in Harrison, according to the DVP, which noted that Montefiore and White Plains Hospital are also in talks to lease Simone’s cancer treatment center. An affiliate of Ossining-based HistoGenetics sold the Harrison property at 104 Corporate Park Drive to a subsidiary of Simone for $14 million in December. Simone then moved quickly to secure tax breaks for its redevelopment plans. [DVP]