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Local Developer Billy Procida Vies For Chance To Transform Site
By Tina Traster
Three Developers vying to transform the HNA Palisades Property will present their plans next Wednesday to the Orangetown Town Board at a 6 pm hearing.
New Jersey developer Billy Procida of Procida Funding, and a Piermont resident, will be among the handful of presenters who will reveal visions on how to redevelop the property located at 234 Route 9W on a secluded tract of 106 acres. The property includes a hotel and conference center.
Newer proposals will likely include housing and retail components.
“We have the most experienced team,” Procida said.
At least one prospective developer said contestants have not been able to get on site and evaluate the buildings and infrastructure. It is unlikely a new development plan would focus solely on maintaining the hotel/conference center on site, though HNA has the right to ultimately decide to whom it sells. The hotel/conference center needs a major upgrade – in the tens of millions, according to sources. Given the way COVID has changed the way in which business is conducted, at least in the short term, it seems unlikely a continued use of the property would be viable.
In late 2019, ZVG@Palisades LLC, a Brooklyn-based entity affiliated with Vasco Ventures, tried to buy the property. The deal ultimately fell apart because the buyer did not have the roughly $40 million purchase price at the original closing deadline on July 10, 2019. The entity left an $8 million deposit on the table.
Last year, Orangetown inserted itself into the future outcome of the property sale or redevelopment. The town put out a Request for an Expression of Interest (RFEI), which called for a “preferred developer or preferred development team” to facilitate the town’s redevelopment goals, which may include rezoning the site to enhance rateables.
Michael Zarin, of Zarin & Steinmetz in White Plains has said, “HNA has deferred to Orangetown to take the lead on a public-private partnership.”