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Frequently Asked Questions
About Echo Bay
About the Armory
Why do we need to develop the Echo Bay site?
New Rochelle’s beautiful shoreline is a valuable untapped resource that needs to be accessible for all its citizens to enjoy. Echo Bay achieves this by creating more parkland, a community center and environmentally friendly housing, shops and cafes.
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How will Echo Bay benefit New Rochelle?
- Echo Bay will create a nearly one-mile long shoreline promenade that will add far greater access to Long Island Sound to all New Rochelle residents.
- The plans for Echo Bay will replace a decaying and contaminated wasteland.
- This will re-establish New Rochelle as a beautiful waterfront destination for residents and visitors.
- Echo Bay will include more than 150,000 square feet of new retail space which will bring jobs, revenue and more shopping options to the people of New Rochelle.
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Who is Forest City?
Forest City Enterprises is a national owner and developer of real estate that operates, acquires and develops commercial, rental housing and land development projects. They are an award-winning company that recognizes the need to sustain neighborhoods, improve urban areas, revitalize cities and protect and provide green space for future generations.
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Once the Echo Bay development is completed, will Forest City leave New Rochelle or are they making a commitment to the city?
Forest City operates with a long-term outlook and reinvests in their existing properties to maintain or increase their value, which has a positive impact on the surrounding community. They are a national company that appreciates the importance of maintaining strong relationships in communities in which they are invested.
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What are Forest City's views on environmentally sustainable development?
Forest City has adopted the principals of sustainability into the projects it develops and the properties it manages, balancing environmental resources, economic objectives and social systems – the so-called triple bottom line of people, planet and profit.
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Does this plan include residential units? Won’t this mean more students in our crowded schools?
Any impact Echo Bay will have on New Rochelle – including on the schools – will be fully examined in a detailed environmental review and though there are approximately 700 units planned, the vast majority are studios and one-bedrooms typically too small to accommodate families with children. The expected impact on schools will be minimal, similar to other recent residential buildings in downtown.
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How are the city of New Rochelle and other public entities supporting Echo Bay?
The great majority of financing for Echo Bay will come from Forest City, with additional assistance expected from federal, state and county governments.
Echo Bay is a true public-private partnership intended to maximize public benefit, and it is expected that New Rochelle will enjoy an increase in property and sales taxes, produce hundreds of jobs and raise property values in the surrounding area.
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Will Eminent Domain be used to acquire the land for the development?
New Rochelle will encourage all property transactions to occur in a private, consensual fashion, with eminent domain employed only as an absolute last resort. However, the city must preserve all development tools in order to move forward with complicated projects that involve significant assembly of land.
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What plans has the city made for the increased traffic that more houses and shops are sure to attract?
The traffic question will be fully studied in the SEQRA (State Environment Quality Review) process, and the city and Forest City will mitigate any negative traffic impacts identified in that survey.
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Is this a “done deal”? What are the next steps?
No. Once the City Council votes on the Memorandum of Understanding with the developer and must make a decision on moving the city yard. If these are approved, then the city will launch the extensive review process known as SEQRA (State Environment Quality Review) for the Echo Bay project.
The SEQRA process will take one to two years and will feature several public hearings and informal meetings with neighborhood groups and other stakeholders.
Final decisions cannot be made about the project until the environmental review is completed and all environmental impacts are mitigated.
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About the Armory
Why are we tearing down the old armory? Isn’t it a monument and memorial to our veterans?
The armory was always intended to be a functional and useable building and not a monument or memorial to our honored veterans. Its present location and size make it impossible to open up access to the shoreline for all New Rochelle residents to enjoy.
A central element of the Echo Bay plan is a new community center that will be used by all residents and include many elements that respectfully honor our veterans.
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Why can’t we develop around the armory building?
The decision to replace the old armory was the toughest of the project, unfortunately the armory site is at the heart of the Echo Bay development and the project is not viable with the armory in its current form or location.
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The city is spending millions to move the City Yard, why can’t we spend some to save the armory?
Saving the armory is not just a question of money. Leaving the armory as it is severely undermines the development potential of the entire Echo Bay shoreline and it would require a substantial increase in the density of the remainder of the project, with ten story structures instead of five. It would also eliminate much of the project’s parkland and open space.
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The State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA) scoping document says you will study keeping the armory - what does that mean?
An important part of the SEQRA process is to study alternative development scenarios such as a no-build alternative (as if nothing was built and the property remained as it is today). Since members of the community requested it, Forest City will study the impact on the project – taller buildings, reduced amount of open space, cost of renovation, etc. – if the armory is kept within the project in its current location.
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