• New York, Westchester & Boston NYW&B Heathcote Station

  • Discussion relating to the NH and its subsidiaries (NYW&B, Union Freight Railroad, Connecticut Company, steamship lines, etc.). up until its 1969 inclusion into the Penn Central merger. This forum is also for the discussion of efforts to preserve former New Haven equipment, artifacts and its history. You may also wish to visit www.nhrhta.org for more information.
Discussion relating to the NH and its subsidiaries (NYW&B, Union Freight Railroad, Connecticut Company, steamship lines, etc.). up until its 1969 inclusion into the Penn Central merger. This forum is also for the discussion of efforts to preserve former New Haven equipment, artifacts and its history. You may also wish to visit www.nhrhta.org for more information.

  by Scarsdale
 
Hello members, I happen to come upon this thread while reseaching the station... My name is Jon, I own a small numismatic business and I will attempt to purchase this building and create and office ... I only hope that if I have any luck that I can call on the members here to give me a hand as one of my goals is to return the building back in time to how it appeared b4 the SVAC modified it.... I will try to keep you posted....please keep in touch with me via the posts or email me at any time... best, Jon
Last edited by Scarsdale on Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

  by Otto Vondrak
 
Hello Jon- Welcome aboard and thanks for letting us know your intentions- we'll certainly do our best to support your purchase of the former NYWB station!

-otto-

  by Otto Vondrak
 
Here is some relevant information I got from Andy Bass, a local resident seeking to preserve the station...
The former Heathcote Station of the New York, Westchester and Boston Railroad at 300 Heathcote Road in Scarsdale is back up for sale following unsuccessful negotiations between the Village of Scarsdale and Frederick S. Fish #32 / S. Oder, T.I.C., the highest responder to last Spring's Request For Proposals for the sale and restoration of the property.

In a November 9, 2007 letter to Village Manager Al Gatta, Frederick Fish formally withdrew his group's bid on the property, citing their "particular concern over the Village desire for us not to inspect the Heathcoat (sic) Ambulance building."

At the November 27, 2007 Village Board meeting, the trustees unanimously passed a resolution "to commence a new RFP process." The resolution requests the Village Manager to "advertise de novo the sale and preservation of the 300 Heathcote Road building." While there was no discussion among the trustees prior to the vote, Mayor Noreen Fisher commented at the meeting that the Village had "received some indications of interest in this property that we were not aware of before."

The Village re-issued the RFP on December 14, 2007 and posted it in its entirety on the Village website at the following link:

http://www.scarsdale.com/LinkClick.aspx ... 36&mid=549

The RFP mentions two important dates worthy of note:

Pre-Submission Conference
Thursday, January 24, 2008, 3 p.m.
3rd Floor Meeting Room, Scarsdale Village Hall, 1001 Post Road

Bid Submission Deadline: Friday, February 29, 2008

The Heathcote Station was determined to be individually eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places by the New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in the early 1980s and was listed on the Westchester County Inventory of Historic Places in 1988.
  by Scarsdale
 
Thank you Otto for your support.... I had the pleasure to meet Andy at the Village meeting last week.... we continue our efforts and are working on a dynamite proposal for the purchase of the building from the village.... it really would be grand to restore not only the outside as the village requests, but to restore the inside back to its original greatness.....

I'll try to keep the forum posted, thanks, Jon
  by fordhamroad
 
-any up-to-date information on the fate of Heathcote Station? I had heard that one proposal for reuse and preservation of the exterior was proposed, but failed to work out. Where do things stand as of March 2008?

Thanks


Roger

  by Otto Vondrak
 
The Heathcote Station's condition may be slowly deteriorating, but this past Friday it became increasingly clear that its popularity is spiking.

Whereas only two bid proposals were received last April in response to the first RFP for the sale and restoration of the building at 300 Heathcote Road, by last Friday's noon deadline, the Village of Scarsdale's Treasurer's Office had received seven bid proposals in response to the re-issued RFP. With Mayor Noreen Fisher and Trustee Dan Hochvert among those looking on, the bid submissions were opened publicly in the Trustee's room at Scarsdale Village Hall.

Rabin Alexander, LLC, a White Plains-based multi-million dollar real estate company, submitted the highest bid at $355,500. Two LP Corporation, headed by Scarsdale resident and real estate agent Jonathan Lerner, submitted the second highest bid at $335,000. Dr. Carol E. Tetenbaum, a Scarsdale resident and Hartsdale-based internist had the third highest bid at $275,000.

Perhaps most striking is that Rabin Alexander's bid is more than $100,000 higher than the highest bid received last April in response to the first 300 Heathcote Road RFP. F.S. Fish had the highest bid at $250,000 last spring but withdrew his bid in November. The Village Board chose to re-issue the RFP instead of awarding the sale of the building to the only other bidder, the partnership of Doug Brout and Brad Perkins. The wisdom of the Board's decision was validated yesterday as four of the seven bids received in response to the re-issued RFP exceeded Fish's bid amount from last spring. Brout bid again under a newly created corporation, Heathcote Corners LLC. But despite his new bid being $20,000 higher than Fish's from last spring, it was only good for fourth highest this time around.

The remaining bids came from Scarsdale residents Keith Schutzman, a Yonkers-based real estate attorney ($228,000); Varun Gosain, a Manhattan-based hedge fund manager ($161,000); and Jordan Rosner, a volunteer EMT with the Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps ($25,000).

Rabin Alexander's bid was somewhat unexpected as the firm did not have any representatives in attendance at the January 24 Pre-Bid Submission Conference and had not publicly expressed any interest in the property before submitting its bid proposal. According to its official website, the company "is principally engaged in the acquisition, development, ownership and management of premier commercial and residential real estate throughout the country," and "controls and manages a portfolio of retail centers, apartment communities and office buildings including more than 2,700 residential units and over 300,000 square feet of office space.” The website does not mention any experience or expertise in the restoration of historic buildings.

The bid from Two LP Corporation was expected as its founder, Jonathan Lerner, had attended the Pre-Bid Submission Conference and had posted messages on the Heathcote Station Forum on the Railroad.net web site in January in which he stated his intention to bid on the property. In his post on January 15, Lerner stated that his plan is to “create and office / museum geared to local history.” Lerner added that one of his goals is “to return the building back in time to how it appeared b4 the SVAC modified it.” In a January 28 post, Lerner added that “it really would be grand to restore not only the outside as the village requests, but to restore the inside back to its original greatness.”

Lerner is a real estate agent with Houlihan Lawrence and a coin dealer who founded Scarsdale Coin.

While the bid amounts are certain to be a major factor in the Village Board’s determination of which bidder to award the sale to, it is my hope that the Board will put the greatest emphasis on the quality of each bidder’s plan for the preservation and restoration of the building. The RFP clearly states that the Village Board has that discretion:

"The Village of Scarsdale reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals for any reason and reserves the right to waive any minor variations in bid submissions and to select the proposal which, in the opinion of the Village board of trustees, is in the best interest of the Village."

In the near future, I hope to obtain copies of the bid proposals submitted. When I do I will share them with you.

--Andy Bass
  by fordhamroad
 
Hi Otto - thanks for the update. Hope something works out.

Roger
  by Scarsdale
 
It appears that we may be awarded the building.... I am keeping my fingers crossed... If anyone out on Railroad.Net has any specific information on this Heathcote Station, please drop me a line ..... as we look to restore the station, we would love to have as much original information as possible to duplicate the original build!
  by Otto Vondrak
 
The new owner of the Heathcote Station, Heathcote Station Corp., headed by Jon Lerner of Scarsdale, has an application before the Scarsdale Planning Board this evening seeking site plan approval for the restoration and reuse of the landmark 1912 building at 300 Heathcote Road. The meeting will take place tonight, Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 8 p.m. in Scarsdale Village Hall, located at 1001 Post Road.

The new owner proposes to restore the building to its original appearance and use it as a real estate office. Among the areas that the Planning Board will likely focus on at tonight's meeting are parking and the flow of both traffic and pedestrians around the site. Public comments are welcome at tonight's meeting.
  by fordhamroad
 
Hi, NYW&B fans.

Drove by Heathcote Station yesterday, stopped to admire the work being done. The unoriginal side shack on the south has been removed. New Cement stucco applied to exterior. The Coat of arms decoration has been preserved. The 1912 window and door lines restored. Work progressing on rebuilding interior and on adding roof tiles. The interior, being framed for new use, shows indications of the old NYW&B walls . Getting there....

Roger Wines
  by nyw&br
 
Thanks, Roger...

One could use the restoration as leverage for one's passions and pretend this heralds a return to service...oh well...

A question regarding "...indications of the old NYW&B walls"

Were you were able to get a good look inside?

If so, can you provide a clue on where these "indications" reside?
  by fordhamroad
 
-Hi - They were working on it, I just walked over and asked the foreman if I could take a peek. Didn't have a camera with me, just spur of the moment. Obviously the interior had been renovated several times since 1937, They were doing new concrete block partitions, but you could see patches of older plaster and ceramic block construction on parts of the original walls. My reading of it, and it was only a quick glimpse through the door, was that there was a waiting room area in the front by the entrance door, extending across the whole building, and that it narrowed down toward the rear, possible the location for the ticket booth,& railings, and a possible entry behind that. which would have led to the former passageway to the stairs on the two platforms, which was now all walled up. Traces of an arched window, up high, bricked up, on that rear wall. It was not a large area, NYW&B surviving stations in the Bronx are also very small. More like old El stations than suburban railway stations, in terms of space. Service was intended to be frequent, and waiting time minimized. The NYW&B stations which look a bit larger, such as Third St. Mt. Vernon, rented out a lot of the interior volume as stores. The working part of the station seems very compact.

Roger
  by fordhamroad
 
Update Heathcote Station.

-Andy Bass notified me there will be a dedication of the restored Heathcote Station of the NYW&B and a reception by the new real estate firm on Thursday evening May 27. He and his associates did a tremendous amount of community organizing and explaining to secure this result.

-residents of Scarsdale and others did a great job influencing the Villge Board to require an historical restoration of the building's exterior. I drove by recently and it looks great. The contractors did a nice job and it is worth a visit.

_-It's nice to see historical preservation win a game once in a while.

Best wishes to all the NYW&B usual suspects.


Roger