New Rochelle Wins $10 Million Revitalization Grant

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — New Rochelle's Lincoln Avenue Corridor will receive $10 million in state funding as the Mid-Hudson winner of the third round of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. New Rochelle now joins the cities of Middletown and Kingston, which were the Mid-Hudson region's winners in the first and second DRI rounds.

"With New Rochelle as the most recent winner, the Downtown Revitalization Initiative continues to be the proven economic driver for communities across the state," New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson said. "We are proud to be the recipient of this award that will create exciting opportunities for New Rochelle, its residents, businesses and visitors."

As in the first two rounds of the DRI, one municipality from each of the state's 10 regional economic development regions is selected as a $10 million winner, marking another overall state goal to target $100 million in funding and investments to help communities boost their economies by transforming downtowns into vibrant neighborhoods.

"New Rochelle's Lincoln Avenue Corridor is an area ripe with potential to appeal to a new generation of residents, businesses and visitors," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in the announcement Thursday. "This new funding will lead to strategic investments that will spur positive economic growth for New Rochelle, Westchester County and the surrounding region."

With the DRI award, New Rochelle will connect its evolving city center with the mile-long Lincoln Avenue Corridor that contains mixed-income residential housing, a newly renovated hospital, green space, a Metro-North train station and part of the city's Arts and Cultural District, state officials said.

The Downtown New Rochelle Strategic Investment Plan will build upon significant public-private investment over the past few years to spur commercial, residential, and mixed-use development in the city. DRI investments will leverage city resources and private investments to forge connections between residential neighborhoods in the northern portion of the corridor with commercial, institutional, and cultural resources to the south.

The city envisions infrastructure improvements that will improve pedestrian and traffic circulation and extend the downtown's walkable, sustainable, transit-oriented design into this corridor to create a bustling environment in which to live and work.

The Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council went through a competitive review process of proposals from communities throughout the region and considered all eight criteria below before recommending New Rochelle as its nominee for winner:

• The downtown should be compact, with well-defined boundaries;
• The municipality, or the downtown's catchment area, should be of sufficient size to support a vibrant, year-round downtown;
• The downtown is able to capitalize on prior or catalyze future private and public investment in the neighborhood and its surrounding areas;
• There should be recent or impending job growth within, or in close proximity to the downtown that can attract workers to the downtown, support redevelopment and make growth sustainable;
• The downtown must be an attractive and livable community for diverse populations of all ages, including existing residents, millennials and skilled workers;
• The municipality should already embrace or have the ability to create and implement policies that increase livability and quality of life, including the use of local land banks, modern zoning codes and parking standards, complete streets plans, energy efficient projects, green jobs, and transit-oriented development;
• The municipality should have conducted an open and robust community engagement process resulting in a vision for downtown revitalization and a preliminary list of projects and initiatives that may be included in a DRI strategic investment plan; and
• The municipality has identified transformative projects that will be ready for implementation with an infusion of DRI funds within the first one to two years.

"The development of Westchester's urban centers is vital to Westchester's economicdevelopment," Westchester County Executive George Latimer said.

New Rochelle will now begin the process of developing a Strategic Investment Plan to revitalize its downtown with up to $300,000 in planning funds from the $10 million DRI grant.

A Local Planning Committee of municipal representatives, community leaders, and other stakeholders will lead the effort, supported by a team of private sector experts and state planners. The Strategic Investment Plan for New Rochelle will examine local assets and opportunities and identify economic development, transportation, housing, and community projects that align with the community's vision for downtown revitalization and that are poised for implementation.

The Lincoln Avenue Corridor Strategic Investment Plan will guide the investment of DRI grant funds in revitalization projects that will advance the community's vision for its downtown and that can leverage and expand upon the state's $10 million investment.

Plans for the DRI's third round will be complete in 2019.

Assemblymember Amy Paulin said, "New Rochelle's Lincoln Avenue Corridor is poised to become a vibrant community and an economic engine in the Hudson Valley. Thanks to the Governor's Downtown Revitalization Initiative, New Rochelle will continue to build upon its strong foundation and usher in further development and jobs."

For more information on the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, go to: www.ny.gov/programs/downtown-revitalization-initiative.

SEE ALSO:

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