(rshsdepot) Mamaroneck, NY

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Journal News.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 
Transit agency puts Mamaroneck train station up for  sale


By _CANDICE FERRETTE_ (mailto:CFERRETT_@_LOHUD.COM) 
THE JOURNAL  NEWS


(Original publication: June 6, 2007)
 
MAMARONECK - A cafe. A gourmet take-out place. Perhaps a dry-cleaning  
business or a flower shop. A vegetarian restaurant? 
These were among the suggestions commuters offered on a recent morning for  
anyone touring the Mamaroneck train station, wondering if a new business might  
breathe life into the beat-up old station building currently for sale. 
"I'd love to come off the train and be able to get a plate of real food to  
go," said Michael Geary, 27, of Mamaroneck before boarding a train to get to 
his  engineering job in Manhattan. "A flower shop would be another good idea 
because  there's a little tradition here - men bring home their wives flowers on 
Fridays.  It would be nice not to have to carry them from Grand Central." 
The Metropolitan Transit Authority, which owns the Metro-North Railroad  
stations, began soliciting bids for the 8,250-square-foot station building a few  
weeks ago, making it the first of Metro-North's stations to go on the market 
for  commercial use in the state. 
With electronic ticket booths becoming the norm on most platforms, the  
railroad company is looking at the unused building space with the bottom line in  
mind. It has rented many of its buildings in the Lower Hudson Valley for years, 
 providing retail services that meet the needs of the modern commuter. 
But the Mamaroneck station building continued to sit vacant, except for a  
lone ticket-booth operator and a half-dozen pigeons perched on support beams. So 
 the MTA is now calling for bids. 
"We really don't have any use for that station. The building is too far from  
the platform and in terrible disrepair. Since it is of no use to the 
railroad,  we just as well have someone else repair it," said Marjorie Anders, a  
spokeswoman for Metro-North Railroad. 
One person's trash may be another person's treasure, local real estate agents 
 say. 
The terra cotta and brick Romanesque revival-style building, constructed in  
1888, is the second- oldest on the New Haven Line. It is eligible for historic 
 landmarking and the tax incentives and expensive restoration work that come 
with  the status. 
The building may be the ideal location for a restaurant or retail business as 
 the community embarks on a redevelopment plan for the neighborhood around  
it. 
A new high-end condominium project is being built directly across Columbus  
Park, which the station building fronts, reviving parts of the Washingtonville  
neighborhood that has historically been the area's middle-class core. 
With more workers relying on commuter railways, experts say there's a trend  
toward enhancing the experience at the transit hubs. 
"Train stations are increasingly becoming a bigger part of people's lives.  
They are becoming meeting places, venues for local commercial and retail  
development and, in some cases, residential development," said Chris Jones, vice  
president for research at the Regional Plan Association, an independent  
organization that focuses on the greater New York area. 
Now, about 2,422 people get on the train in Mamaroneck to go south each day,  
according to Metro-North data. 
That number is expect to rise when development plans around the train station 
 are complete. More than 270 units are expected to go up there, with the most 
 significant, the new Parkview Station condos, fetching more than $600,000 
per  unit. 
Kathy Spadaro, a local real estate agent, said she was very hopeful for what  
might become of the abandoned train station building. 
"It would make a beautiful restaurant and draw people with money to the  
area," said Spadaro, who is not involved with the train station sale. 
Retail space in the area, Spadaro said, can cost from $30 to $40 per square  
foot, up slightly from just a few years ago. 
Parking, however, may be a setback. There are metered parking spots across  
the park, but many of the parking spaces closer to the building are occupied by 
 commuter vehicles, making it difficult for a business to develop a steady  
daytime clientele. 
"There's no foot traffic around here," said Jeff Fleming, who has worked as  
teller at the Mamaroneck station for six years. "You can have the best  
restaurant in the world, but if you don't have parking you're going to  fail." 
Deberah Sutter, co-owner and executive chef of the Flying Pig Restaurant,  
which has rented the Mount Kisco train station since 1999, disagreed. 
The restaurant, recently rated Westchester's Best Ladies Lunch spot, is not  
in the main business district but became a destination for its farm-fresh 
food,  charming architecture and events like poetry readings and live music. 
"You can't only count on the commuter population to support your business.  
When the train comes in, they want to get off and go home," Sutter said. 
Standing among the work-weary commuters at the Mamaroneck station platform,  
Elsa Puerto Rubin wondered what it would be like to have a thriving market to  
stroll through before boarding her train. 
"You'd gather your things for the day or you come back and pick up what you  
need for the night. I think it would work."
 
Reach Candice Ferrette at _cferrett_@_lohud.com_ (mailto:cferrett@lohud.com)  
or 914-696-8229. 





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