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Earlier this year, the council unanimously approved RDRXR – a teaming of Renaissance Downtowns and RXR Realty – as its master developer, as city officials envision a redevelopment of downtown, focused on the train station as the heart of and gateway to the city.
With the MDA now approved, RDRXR will immediately begin work with New Rochelle residents to create a “consensus-driven, mixed-use, transit-oriented” city.
In a statement, RXR Realty CEO Scott Rechler promised to maintain the city’s historic roots, while making New Rochelle a vibrant, viable 21st-century community.
“We are thrilled to be taking this important step in our collaboration with the city of New Rochelle and its residents,” he said. “We look forward to developing a vision that builds on the strengths of the community and to ensure that this vision gets realized in a way that is sensitive to the community’s proud history.”
Donald Monti, chief executive officer of Renaissance Downtowns, has vowed to work alongside and collaboratively with homeowners and business owners as they begin the process of redevelopment.
“In addition to seeking input from the communities about their ideas and what they’d like, we want to get input from property owners and the business community,” he said. “We encourage everyone to become involved in an open and transparent process, and through that, you will start to see the shaping of a plan.”
The redevelopment will focus on embracing the arts and New Rochelle’s cultural past, including a new library, cultural arts center, garden atrium and outdoor amphitheater around Ruby Dee Park. The train station would also undergo a radical transformation as well, to be “a door to the community, serving as a bridge to the past as well as the future.”
“We have a historic opportunity to achieve a dramatic, positive transformation of New Rochelle’s downtown and transit area,” Mayor Noam Bramson said. “And through an inclusive, transparent planning process, every resident of New Rochelle will have a voice in shaping our future."
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