Townhouses to Replace Gas Station on Post Road?

by Judy Silberstein

(May 25, 2005) As three new banks and a new drug store settle in on the Town of Mamaroneck stretch of the Boston Post Road, townhouses are being considered for another property a few miles away at the western edge of the Village of Larchmont a block from La Riserva and diagonally across from Fuji Mountain restaurant.

A bank was one possibility, said Dale Kaufteil, a principal in the real estate brokerage and development company HarborView Properties and one of three individuals involved in the limited liability company that purchased the property at Post Road and Winans Street. “Banks moving into the area are the highest rent payers,” he explained. “So if you’re a landlord, there’s always that lure of steady rent that comes in month after month.” Other options included an office building, low-rise apartment building, or a gas station, its current use.

Artist's rendering of proposed townhouse project courtesy of Sullivan Architectural Group.

The owners have opted instead for 9 high-end townhouses, which will have an “urban brownstone feel,” according to the architect, Ray Sullivan of Sullivan Architectural Group of Norwalk, Connectict. Plans are for a mix of 2- and 3-bedroom units, each over 1600 square feet and 2 1/2 stories high, with garages in back and underneath each townhouse.

HarborView purchased the property two years ago and “then decided that residential development would be more desirable for the area than an old antiquated gas station,” said Mr. Kaufteil.

Rob, the owner of Rob’s Station and the current tenant (who prefers not to give his last name), has other views, as do many of his neighbors in businesses nearby. “I think we have enough condos in the area, we only have two or three nice gas stations with mechanics,” said Michael Luk, who lives on Palmer Avenue and owns King Fish Aquatics a half block down on the Post Road.

“Rob has been nothing but a help here – he helps the community as much as he can,” said Jose Esquiva from Tony & Sons Autobody, another business neighbor on the Post Road. “He’s a great person and he wasn’t even given a chance to buy the property that his business sits on,” added Mr. Esquiva.

Customers of the station also offered their support. Charlie Scott from Larchmont taxi said he services all 20 of his vehicles with Rob. “If he leaves, you’re going to have a lot of broken down cabs,” said Mr. Scott. Lisa Alaicea of Cookies by Design gets her two delivery vehicles fixed by Rob. “It’s terrific that they’re right down the street,” she said. Randolph Soondar and Jeremy Hurley, both parking enforcement officers with the Village of Larchmont, also like the convenience of a nearby service station. “It’s very sad to hear that they’re going to take a working establishment like that and turn it into housing,” said Mr. Hurley. “We don’t have so many full service gas stations around town,” pointed out Mr. Soondar.

Residential neighbors also like Rob, but would prefer townhouses to a gas station.

“We buy our gas from Rob, he’s a very nice guy – we like him,” said Jim DiBuono, who lives next door on Winans.

But the townhouse project? “Obviously it will be good for the neighborhood – the problem is Rob has all these cars – it’s an eyesore,” he said. But Mr. DiBuono, a licensed master plumber who has lived in Larchmont all his life, looked at the plans for the townhouses and liked what he saw, although he does have concerns about trees for screening, curb cuts, exterior lighting and drainage. “Aesthetically it looked very nice – they want to make a pile of money, that’s the point,” he said.

Don Meeker, another neighbor and former member of the Board of Architectural Review, also would prefer housing to an automotive business. He was unaware of the details, but thought the townhouses would add to the tax base without heavily impacting the schools. He was not sad to see diminished use of land for automotive repair and parking of used cars.

Reflecting on development in the Town of Mamaroneck stretch, he said, “I thought it was too bad that there could not have been apartments above retail, like what’s going in on the Post Road in New Rochelle.”

The developer, tenant, neighbors, customers and other Larchmont residents will have opportunities to voice further views on the townhouse project as it makes its way through the land use approval process in the coming months. The plans have only started down the road, with a first stop at the Planning Commission in May. According to Fred Koelsch, attorney for Harborview, “We got some encouraging feedback to go ahead and file a formal site plan” at that preliminary conference. On June 6, the project will once again be on the agenda.