Unveiled just last night, here’s the new vision for the New Rochelle waterfront at Echo Bay, as proposed by the City’s designated developers, Twining Properties.
Pratt Landing, viewed from Echo Bay.
Called “Pratt Landing,” the project would include a blend of retail, office, hotel, and residential space, view corridors to the water from East Main Street, a modern architectural sensibility, and a continuous public promenade and park at the shoreline. Here’s the full power point presented by the development team.
Compared to the last proposal for the site, which was turned down by the City Council in 2013, this vision is more active, with an urban street grid intended to bring New Rochelle’s downtown to the water’s edge. It reminds me a little of Battery Park City – but, of course, at a much lower scale.
Last month, the Council voted unanimously to relocate our Public Works Yard, which clears away the biggest obstacle to waterfront improvements. But many steps must still be taken before this new vision can be achieved (or even approved) and lots of changes are possible as we move through the environmental review process and receive public input. In other words, please view these images and plans as preliminary, not final.
The next decision point comes early next year, when we consider a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Twining Properties. There’s more information about the process in this press release.
An open, vibrant, clean, active waterfront would benefit our entire city enormously, so I am very excited about the possibilities. But even under the most ambitious timetable, infrastructure work could not commence until late 2018, with above-ground construction beginning in early 2020, so patience and careful deliberation are still required.