By Orlando Lee Rodriguez
An undeveloped plot of land in Downtown Mamaroneck that sits alongside the first highway in the United States is ready to start construction, and the developer is in search of a financial backer.
Developer John Lese, says that his plan to build a group of townhouse apartments at 208 West Boston Post Road will go forward when either a joint venture partner is found or he receives total package financing by a lender.
The undeveloped site, which is along the route first used by Native Americans for travel and later American colonialists to deliver mail between New York and Boston, has been under contract to Lese for $346,000.
Lese’s says that his plans have been approved by the Village of Mamaroneck and by the New York State Department of Housing for the use of modular construction. The project, according to Lese, will cost approximately $1.3 million to complete, around $230 per square foot.
“It’s kind of a bypassed site that was never built on,” said John Lese, the project’s developer. “No one realized that there was an easement from the side street.”
Lese, who has been developing property for 35 years, said without that major piece of property rights, the project would not even be possible.
“If you had to come in from Boston Post Road you’d have no room to build a building,” he said. With the lots and the driveway it would be all taken up.”
Plans are for five units in total, four-850 square foot duplex’s and one simplex, with a loft, at 1000 s/f. Each unit will have a washer and dryer on the first floor with an open kitchen and living room. Bedrooms will be upstairs.
The convenience factor, Lese says will have a major appeal to potential residents.
The townhouses will be one block from Mamaroneck Avenue, the town’s main commercial strip, three blocks from the Metro North train station and next to the historic St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church Complex.
“I think it’s more for people who work in town,” he said. “One of my best tenants works at the buildings department and her husband to be works for the MTA. They both can walk to work.”
The units, which will all be affordable, are designed with the end user in mind, down to the placement of the refrigerators, he says.
“I try to think of how somebody lives,” said Lese. “If you’re a guy and you come home dusty and dirty what’s the first thing you are going to do? Grab a beer! The way the refrigerator is placed and the way the swing of the door on the refrigerator is, we make it easy for them.”
