LoHud By Akiko Matsuda November 27, 2013
http://m.lohud.com/RocklandNews/article?a=2013311260048&f=1168
Demolition work in West Nyack has made the way for a strip mall, to be known as Palisades Plaza. – Akiko Matsuda/The Journal News
WEST NYACK — A triangular lot with three buildings that was an eyesore for years will soon become a strip mall with a restaurant.
The 2.36-acre site is east of Route 303 and south of the New York State Thruway. The lot originally consisted of three separate properties: a single-story mixed-use office and light manufacturing building, a former state police barracks, and a former Texaco station.
Those buildings were all demolished recently. On Tuesday, heavy machinery was crushing chunks of concrete left behind.
The development is the latest sign of life to spring out of disused lots in the Tappan Zee Bridge corridor.
Developer Lawrence Adler of East Syracuse has gone before the Clarkstown Planning Board for his plans to build a 13,900-square-foot strip mall at the site, combining the three lots into one.
“Palisades Plaza” will include four retail stores and a restaurant with drive-thru service. Names of the future occupants are not mentioned in the application.
Adler and Ira Emanuel, an attorney representing the developer, did not return phone and email messages seeking comment.
Clarkstown Principal Town Planner Joe Simoes said the developer has taken all the necessary steps with regulatory jurisdictions.
At its meeting last month, the Clarkstown Planning Board granted final approval for the project, and the developer is in the process of getting Planning Board Chairwoman Shirley Thormann’s signoff.
The Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project has been stimulating the local real estate scene, as bridge builder Tappan Zee Constructors is leasing properties for temporary construction staging areas.
The former Journal News printing plant at 160 N. Route 303 — just north of the proposed Palisades Plaza — is slated to become a temporary home for state police and the New York state Thruway Authority.
Simoes said he didn’t believe the strip mall project was prompted by the bridge construction because the developer has been unsuccessfully trying to bring new businesses to the site for some time.
Because it’s an oddly shaped property that was partly zoned “residential,” it has been difficult to develop, Simoes said. Most recently, a mini-storage project was proposed, but the plan didn’t work out, he said.
The zoning issue has been resolved, making a way for the strip mall.
Simoes said the new development would be good for the community.
“It’s been such an eyesore for years that it’s an improvement,” he said.
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