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WESTCHESTER COUNTY
BUSINESS JOURNAL
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February 4, 2013 | VOL. 49, No. 5
Yorktown open for business Developers find Route 202 inviting BY SAM BARRON sbarron@westfairinc.com
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long-vilified section of Yorktown, notorious for its traffic issues, is finally getting its due thanks to a change in political leadership and renewed interest by developers. Route 202, the gateway to Yorktown, now has $150 million worth of projects in the pipeline with more than $300 million in projects planned across the town. Costco Wholesale Corp. is working on its final environmental impact statement for a $60 million project
that would bring a 151,000-square-foot store to the site of the former Yorktown Inn next to the southbound side of the Taconic State Parkway. Pending approvals, Retail Store Construction Co., an affiliate of Breslin Realty Development Corp. in Garden City, L.I., hopes to break ground this year. Costco has pledged to spend $3 million in traffic improvements on Route 202, which goes along with $7 million in traffic improvements that the state Department of Transportation is spending to improve the road and fix flooding issues. Town Councilman Terrence Murphy sees a lot of benYorktown, page 6
Network brings tech firm to White Plains BY JOHN GOLDEN jgolden@westfairinc.com
“T
Endangered species •2 Kim Young of Sun Fish Market in Yonkers.
his is a great way to start the week,” Mayor Thomas Roach observed on a recent Monday morning in a downtown office building in White Plains. At 150 Grand St., the mayor joined landlord Reckson and business leaders from the Westchester County Association (WCA) to welcome a young and fast-growing tech company to the city. Doing business as PlanGuru, the 3-year-old company develops and markets budgeting and financial planning software for businesses and nonprofits. It’s the first business to be vetted by and receive financial and services support from the Blueprint Accelerator Network L.L.C., a private-sector partnership started by the WCA last year to aid entrepreneurs and early stage companies that commit to remain in the county. The network, whose partners represent more than $275 million in debt financing and in-kind services, is a key element of the WCA’s Blueprint for Westchester initia-
tive to spur economic development and fill some 3 million square feet of vacant office space in the county. PlanGuru’s decision to open a headquarters office downtown also bolsters the city’s campaign to attract young professionals to live and work in White Plains, Roach noted. “This is an awesome, awesome location,” said Christian H. Wielage, a former IBM employee and CEO of PlanGuru. Until recently a largely virtual company that operated from Wielage’s White Plains apartment and shared office space, PlanGuru is leasing 1,635 square feet of renovated space at 150 Grand St., a six-story, Class A office building that Roach remembered for its drab, dilapidated interior before Reckson, the suburban division of SL Green Realty Corp., paid nearly $7 million to acquire it. Reckson in the last three years has spent $5 million to $6 million in greenbuilding renovations there, said John Barnes, Reckson senior vice president and senior director of SL Green’s suburban portfolio. Reckson is among 19 companies that are the accelerator network’s principal investors. Network, page 6
@ New look • 27