You are
invited to a community meeting tomorrow evening Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at
Frank’s nursery on Dobbs Ferry Road. The meeting will be outside –at the site of
the proposed sports bubble. The meeting starts at 7 PM. In the event of rain the
meeting will be held on Thursday evening same time – same place. At the meeting
you will have the opportunity to learn more about the proposed lease with Game
On, to ask questions. Town officials will also answer questions about the
financial arrangements regarding the lease. Alot of misleading and wrong
information has been sent to residents from a company that is planning to build
another sports facility in the area--they object to competition. The Board will
not vote on the 25th --a vote is expected a short time after the meeting takes
place.
The
proposed lease with Game On is for 15 years. The town will receive a minimum of
$260,000 a year in revenue. After three years the revenues increase to $300,000
a year. And—the revenues escalate to $330,000 by the end of the 15 years. In
addition, Game On will help the town cleanup a contaminated site ---they have
agreed to pay $100,000 for the cleanup. The town factored the taxes into the
rent. If the costs of the cleanup are excessive both the town and Game On have
the right to back off from the lease. We have compared the revenues we are
receiving to rent other localities that have sports bubbles in their communities
receive. The town is generating much more revenue from our proposed agreement
with Game On that neighboring localities. Even with the taxes deducted from the
rent, the rent payments we receive will be above market value.
Some
people have asked: how did Game On become the preferred tenant for this
property. Last year, after the town took ownership of the property due to a
foreclosure, we had a community meeting at Frank’s. A number of proposals for
the property were discussed. Neighbors objected to many of them. We put up a big
sign outside of Frank’s inviting people/businesses to submit proposals. I
located letters that I sent to the Westchester County Board of Realtors and the
Construction Industry Council of Westchester (letters were dated August 10)
requesting that they circulate the RFP to their members. I also sent out notices
about the RFP to newspapers, blogs, social media contacts, etc… We received
three bids. Two bids were to purchase the property- the Sports Bubble was the
third bid. Property values are not at the high point right now. We decided that
leasing the land was best for the town. In 15 years we probably will get a few
million dollars more for the property. And we’re getting almost $5 million
during the life of the contract. In addition, at the end of the lease we will
own a clean site—something we don’t own. We currently are paying over $50,000 a
year in taxes to the school district, county and fire districts—and getting
nothing in return.
Will
there be traffic? A traffic study will be conducted as part of the State
Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). The Westchester Field House is an
ideal project for the area since the majority of its business will occur during
off-peak traffic hours; after school, during the evening, and on weekends.
Also, as an indoor sports facility, the busiest season will be winter. During
the winter, all neighboring properties (Westchester Golf Range, Elmwood Country
Club, Rumbrook Park, Carlson’s Nursery) have very little traffic, if
any.
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The Westchester Field House will have more parking than is required by code.
The process for the State Environmental Quality Review Act
(SEQRA) has started for the site and meets New York State requirements. The
Town of Greenburgh has declared itself the lead agency as the owner of the
property.
In comparison to similar commercial land leases, the lease
payments are above market value.
Instead of selling the property in a depressed market, the
Town board opted for a 15 year land lease which will generate close to
$5,000,000 for the Town. The financial benefits to the Town include retaining
ownership of a valuable property while receiving annual income that far exceeds
any potential tax it would receive from selling the property.
As is standard with a land lease, Game On 365 will begin
paying full rent upon the issuance of building approvals. Full approvals are
anticipated within one year.
Game On 365 has agreed to pay for the Phase II
environmental study. If any remediation is required, Game On 365 will spend up
to $250,000 to clean up the site without the Town incurring any out of pocket
expense.
The Westchester Field House is a multi-sport training
facility with turf fields for activities and clinics where kids will be
supervised by trainers, coaches and parents at all times.
Game On partners have more than 15 years of experience
operating similar successful recreational facilities in Bergen County, New
Jersey. Both the Soccer Coliseum in Teaneck and Superdome Sports in Waldwick
are operated by Game On partners.
An attractive amenities building will replace the current
dilapidated Franks Nursery. This building will sit in front of the dome
substantially improving the overall visual impact from Dobbs Ferry Road.
PAUL FEINER
PS: If you have any questions please feel free to call me
directly at my cell: 438 1343.
3 comments:
Keep Your Bubble
Nice seeing the Game On employees in attendance. Where they paided to be there/ What a joke. The lease is in the bag and money is in Feiner's pocket.
It's nice to see the town in theory is more interested in recovering each property owner up to $1 or $2 a year, despite the much larger cost and inconvenience of the people directly affected by it. I for one, would much rather pay the extra couple of dollars a year not to have the bubble there. No matter where the apex of the 80' high structure is, it is going to be a e ugly structure that will lower property values. I'm sure you will get that same opinion if you ask any non-bias architect or planner. And what about us dealing with this additional traffic after we just fought our way home on 287 or the Sprain on a Thursday or Friday night. After all, their prime operating hours are generally after school just as we are coming home. We need a full and honest SEQRA completed before any deal is made.
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