The Journal News has an editorial, “Real-estate burst requires new look at renewal plans”, which is largely sympathetic to the Mayor’s position in his State of the City address.
The editorial begins:
New Rochelle was on course for a big downtown redevelopment. Corner after corner, it seemed, would be transformed from low-rise buildings of a bygone era to new, towering luxury. As Mayor Noam Bramson’s State of the City address made clear, it is time to rethink that redevelopment.
On Lecount Square:
While the city waits for the development to move ahead, storefronts that developer Louis Cappelli bought or optioned sit empty — a situation that’s not good for the city’s coffers or downtown street life.
On Former Simone/Church & Prospect Development:
In April, the city will issue a request for developers to submit their credentials and ideas for a more modest development at the site, Mayor Bramson told the Editorial Board.
On Echo Bay
…the Forest City development that was proposed for New Rochelle’s waterfront, is also in development limbo. First proposed in 2007, the agreement to develop Echo Bay runs out in nine months. “We’ve asked Forest City to revisit its plan,” Bramson said.
New Rochelle residents who have questioned the wisdom of giving Capelli Enterprises the benefit of the doubt time and time again will be sure to notice this whopper in the Journal News editorial.
Cappelli first proposed LeCount Square in 2005, and the City Council has given him several extentions (sic) as deadlines for developing the site passed. That’s understandable, but only if the project is still viable.
I don’t know how many “extentions” Capelli has gotten for LeCount Square but I do know he has gotten 13 EXTENSIONS.
SIDE NOTE: Not to cast stones — my posts to Talk of the Sound are full of typos (I am a lousy typist) — what does it say about the editors at the Journal News that they cannot even correctly proofread their own editorials.