Yorktown OKs 118-unit senior housing development

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y.—A large senior housing development will soon be built on Catherine Street.

The Planning Board approved Toll Brothers’ 118-unit, age-restricted project on Catherine Street on Monday, Nov. 10.

The community, aimed at residents 55 and older, will include townhomes, a clubhouse, a pool, new roads, and a stormwater management system on about 48 acres. The development is expected to generate nearly $1.3 million in annual property taxes, with about $900,000 of that amount going to the Yorktown Central School District.

Toll Brothers will give Yorktown $150,000 to upgrade the Hunterbrook upper field as a replacement for a practice field on Catherine Street. The developer will also pay $472,000 to the town’s park trust, $170,500 to the local sewer district, and $55,000 to the Mohegan Volunteer Ambulance Corps, according to a Nov. 18 release from the town’s public relations firm.

Town officials said the approval came after more than four years of comprehensive review and public input.

"These townhomes will provide our older residents with local options as they downsize from single-family homes,” Supervisor Ed Lachterman said in the release.

Under the approved plan, the developer will donate the historic Field Home building and 3.05 acres of surrounding land to the town for preservation and future use. The proposal also meets environmental requirements, setting aside roughly 14.3 acres under a conservation easement to remain as open space.

The Field Home—built between 1887 and 1924—first served elderly and infirm women and is currently used by the Field Hall Foundation.  Beardsley Architects presented a plan during the Nov. 18 Town Board meeting to convert the building into a boutique hotel and event space, including a financial feasibility study.

Town officials will meet with the architects to finalize a developer package and cost estimates, then decide who will market the project. Both steps could take up to nine months, raising concerns from Councilwoman Susan Siegel about meeting the Toll Brothers approval deadline for deciding whether to accept the property.