Revisions Made to Diamond Properties’ Complex Plan in Mt. Kisco
By Ed Perratore
Mount Kisco’s Planning Board responded favorably last week to an updated proposal for a new ShopRite supermarket at the Diamond Properties complex in Mount Kisco and changes to two other businesses.
The lease Diamond Properties signed would move the supermarket from its longtime home at 747 Bedford Rd. in Bedford Hills to The Park at 333 N. Bedford Rd. The 38-acre site also hosts Grand Prix New York, whose activities include go-kart racing and virtual-reality games, the fitness center Saw Mill Club East and other businesses.
Two representatives for Diamond Properties appeared before the Planning Board last Tuesday to outline changes made in the proposal since January, updates that board Chairman Doug Hertz described as “fairly substantive.”
The previous application had detailed a significant expansion of Grand Prix New York and Safe Haven Self Storage, along with modifications to other existing space on the property.
The updated proposal scraps a proposed 37,070-square-foot expansion of Safe Haven Self Storage and most of Grand Prix’s addition. Grand Prix, now at 118,096 square feet, will add just over 3,800 square feet instead of more than 50,000.
“We still have many hurdles to jump through, but at least it’s a little more distilled than it was previously,” said architect Michael Gallin of Gallin Beeler Design Studio in Pleasantville.
The applicant will slightly decrease the size of ShopRite by 445 square feet to 85,652 square feet. It will also decrease the number of parking spaces by 12 to 873 spots.
Gallin said his client will need a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals because the site requires 1,780 spaces.
There are also lot line changes, easements with adjoining properties, requests for numerous variances, and, of most interest to the Planning Board, modifications to the property’s two entrances that would encourage pedestrians to walk to the site.
“I know that when you’re driving to Whole Foods (at Chappaqua Crossing, the former Reader’s Digest property in Chappaqua), the entrances are as green and as plush as any major site I’ve seen in the area,” said board member Ralph Vigliotti. “I just want to make sure that the entrances, which are highly visible to the rest of the community and those that visit (Route) 117, that there’s enough green that it really shows off the site.”
Gallin and project engineer Stephen Spina of Armonk-based John Meyer Consulting described how the north and south entrances to the property would be widened to allow routine deliveries and fire department vehicles.
“Both of these entrances will be upgraded significantly,” said Spina. “They’re the gateways to this significant property, and we definitely will have extensive landscaping, a new building façade and more.”
Parking and traffic studies must still be completed, the latter being required by the state Department of Transportation before it will sign off on any construction along North Bedford Road, a state thoroughfare. Planning Board members also asked for an artist’s rendering of the property, particularly its entranceways, to give them a better idea of green space.
Despite the work that needs to be done, Hertz was optimistic regarding the latest enhancements.
“I think this is a wonderful project,” Hertz said. “You guys have done a really good job of taking a long-term view of the site and moving it towards something that we’ve all touched on for years now, and I think you’re in spitting distance of accomplishing something very significant.”
He added that the realignment of the property’s north and south entrances are significant improvements for the community.
“I think they will help traffic up and down North Bedford Road, and that’s not a trivial statement,” Hertz said.
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