New Rochelle has received proposals from 18 engineering firms vying to design the new city yard at an inland site so that homes, stores and a park can be built along Echo Bay, City Manager Charles Strome III said this morning.
At the same, Strome said he had just signed the new agreement with the developer of the Echo Bay site, Forest City Residential. The deal, called a memorandum of understanding, is not a final approval of the project, rather it is the city’s agreement to move forward with the concept of the development.
With the new deal, the Echo Bay plan is less than half of what was hoped several years ago, before the economy took a dive. But, with up to 300 rental apartments and 50,000 square feet for stores, plus a park and other features, it is still one of the largest developments around.
The larger project would have required the developer to buy private properties off East Main Street, just south of Salesian High School and Five Islands Park.
The current plan is limited entirely to the 10.4-acre site of the city yard.
Before it can be built, the new site for the city’s sanitation and tow trucks would have to be created at a vacant site on Beechwood Avenue partially underneath Insterstate 95. Some neighbors of the site object to having the yard moved there.
The City Council approved the agreement with Forest City, called a memorandum of understanding, last month. That authorized Strome to sign the deal.
