Well, here we are again – with yet another delay on the affordable housing that Louis Cappelli owes the City of White Plains. 
According to recent reports work has abruptly halted on the affordable housing – but heating was not the issues this time around.  This time it was the fire codes that were the bone of contention.

Mr. Cappelli had designed the building at 240 Main Street to be exactly 74.87 ft in height – just a hair under the 75 feet that would define the building as a high-rise by State law and force  him to include more extensive fire safety provisions.  These would include emergency generators, stronger fire walls, and a mechanism to purge smoke.   However , local laws require such provisions for buildings over six stories in height.  The building in question is eight stories.  The cost would add an additional $2.5 million to an $8 million budget.  Apparently, the extra $2.5 million renders the project impossible because it is no longer cost-effective given the rent levels that affordable housing requires.

Mr. Cappelli is now talking about going back to Plan A. which was to create the affordable housing atop the roof of the City Center parking facility. Meanwhile, as the Journal News pointed out– quite rightly – this project has already disrupted the lives of the merchants who occupied the space prior to being evicted to make way for the project.  Further, the storefronts are half demolished and look patently derelict sitting next to City Center and Trump Tower.

As things stand, the city has been quite generous to Mr. Cappelli, having allowed him additional air rights to the Ritz Carlton, and blowing off many a zoning violation that would have landed the average citizen or builder in major hot water.  They allowed the first tower of the  Ritz Carlton to open in spite of the affordable housing delays.  Now what? Does Mr. Cappelli SERIOUSLY expect the city to relax fire codes for him?  I certainly hope not. One excellent reason NOT to relax the regulations is that Cappelli is 0.13 feet from being required to put in extra safety measures by state AND local law.  If the building is burning down, how big a difference does that 0.13 feet make to someone on the top floor?  Is there anyone who has worked as fireman around here that could comment? 

How we got to this impasse is quite baffling. For his part, Mr. Cappelli has claimed ignorance with respect to the local  regulation referring back to New York State law which only stipulates building height.  It is well known that local codes supercede state building codes when the local codes are stricter than state law.  This should be no mystery to any developer working in New York State – particularly one of Mr. Cappelli’s experience and stature.   Why didn’t Cappelli or his  people know about the ordinance?

As I said in a previous post, Mr. Cappelli is probably NOT the sort of person to be error prone.  You generally do not get to be where he is in any field if you are subject to the number and type of lapses that he claims as honest  mistakes.  All of his “lapses” in the past have resulted in the city having to cave on one zoning issue or another and each lapse appears to have resulted in a far more profitable outcome for Mr. Cappelli.  I don’t mean to be cynical, but I think I’m starting to see a pattern here. My guess (and its only a guess)  is that Mr. Cappelli knew full well about the issue and is using it as an excuse to wear down the City Council into letting him PAY HIS WAY out of building anything affordable.  My guess is that he had no intention of building anything  affordable and that this is a calculated game of chess where the City Council has been badly outclassed. But political pressures may bring an end to this game.  There is enormous pressure on the City Council to deliver affordable housing and no politician  will stand for being played like  a Stradivarius  indefinitely when their political careers are on the line.

Finally, AFFORDABLE housing might not be that profitable.  SO WHAT? That’s not its purpose. Mr. Cappelli has made  a veritable fortune in Westchester and  White Plains in particular.  Granted, he has given generously to charities, but mostly with tremendous fanfare, so I’m not as impressed by this as some might be.  The city (and county) desperately need affordable housing.  Municipalities have tried begging, pleading and cajoling builders to do what is desperately needed for many years now. It has all fallen on deaf ears as builders continue to build their luxury high-risers and McMansions.  Builders need to recognize that a building permit is not a right, it is a privilege and that what they build must meet local ordinances and NEEDS.  The price of building luxury housing will increasingly include a percentage of affordable units or the middle class will not survive. The pressure on elected officials is growing and it is not going away.   Builders are no longer going to be able to “pay their way” out of doing what the community needs. If $2.5 million is what it takes for Mr. Capplelli to make good on his agreement, then he should pony up  and stop with the theatrics.

I’ll repeat what I said before:  Quit whining Mr. Cappelli and get the housing built.  This issue is just not going to go away and you are NOT going to be able to wriggle out of it.

Much of the information in this blog was first reported in The Journal News in an article by Keith Eddings. White Plains affordable housing project stumbles, again, Feb. 10, 2008.

                Note that all four towers of the skyline were built by Cappelli.