The Business Journals - Week of December 20

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AWARD WINNING EDITORIAL

INCLUDING THE HUDSON VALLEY DECEMBER 20, 2021 VOL. 57, No. 50

westfaironline.com

How will inflation shape Fairfield County's economy?

Rendering of proposed MacQuesten project in Ossining.

BY JUSTIN MCGOWN jmcgown@westfairinc.com

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MACQUESTEN PROPOSES MIXED-USE SENIOR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT BY PETER KATZ Pkatz@westfairinc.com

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a c Q u e s t e n Development LLC of Mount Vernon is proposing a mixed-use building on a 0.795-acre site at 136-140 Croton Ave. in Ossining that would have 77 apartments along with 1,669 square feet of neighborhood retail space. There also would be 1,836 square feet of flex space for community and business use. The site formerly was home to Sun Valley Nursery. “Our firm for the last 30 years has built sustainable high-quality affordable housing. We did and have done and continue to do projects and energy-efficient projects before cogeneration and the like was fashionable,” said Joseph Apicella, managing director of development at MacQuesten. “We’ve done projects in Brooklyn,

the Bronx, Yonkers, a senior housing project in Yonkers, New Rochelle, a transformative project in New Rochelle, and Mount Vernon. We are ready and able to do this project.” The apartments would be for people age 62 and older. There would be 30 studios, 46 one-bedroom units and one two-bedroom apartment. Rents would be designed to make the apartments affordable to people earning from 40% to 80% of the Area Median Income. The proposal includes two levels of covered parking. There would be three driveways for access: one driveway each on Croton, Prospect and Watson avenues. Ossining’s Planning Board has declared itself to be the lead agency for purposes of the project’s environmental review and it is expected that the board will

next take up the project at its January meeting. The village’s Zoning Board of Appeals also will be delving into the project since some variances likely would be required, including for height and percentage of the site covered by the building. The developer expressed a willingness to work with the village to make changes that would eliminate the need for as many variances as possible. Architect Jaclyn Tyler of Tyler Architecture and Planning PLCC based in Purchase said that there

is a drop of 27 feet in the grade of the site from the southeast corner to the northwest corner. “That’s where some of these vertical challenges have come into play in accommodating that 27-foot grade change,” Tyler said. “We’ve really tried to keep the building in that three, three-andhalf-story range at all of the corners. We do have underground parking. By the time you get up into the southwest corner you do have what appears to be four » MACQUESTEN

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nflation has skyrocketed at an intimidating rate according — the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed a 6.8% rise from November 2020 to November 2021, the fastest rate of increase since 1982. Inflation is likely to have an impact on life and business in Fairfield County, but for consumers this may appear less as a direct increase in costs and more in the form of a continuing energy shortage. According to Khawaja A. Mamun, an associate professor at Sacred Heart University and director of the Fairfield-based school’s master's in business analytics program, this might have the largest local impact, particularly as winter sets in. “The fuel oil price increased almost 60% and in Fairfield County many houses use oil for heat,” Mamun said. “That’s going to take a big bite out of wallets.” As for the price increases consumers are seeing directly, Manum described it as the result of several factors that were worsened by the pandemic. “Number one is increased demand,” he said. “People have been hitting a bottleneck for many, many things for a long time. And now they are demanding » INFLATION

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