Highgarden Tower

Organization Name: SBJ Group

Project Title: Highgarden Tower

Project Description:
Highgarden Tower is a 19-story, 275,000-sf residential building providing 219 affordable units, an 8,000-sf incubator space and a parking garage for 146 cars. Amenities include resident lounges, children’s play room, exercise room, supportive offices and a garden. A corner plaza, open to the public, is designed to connect the building to North Avenue and the nearby Metro North train station. As the building is located at a prominent gateway into New Rochelle, it was important for the building to stand prominently in the skyline. A limestone-colored precast concrete was selected for the cladding emphasizing its residential character. The City of New Rochelle invested in rebuilding the city’s core, and master-developer RXR reimagined the downtown, creating housing for the region’s growing population and revitalizing the local economy. Georgica Green Ventures’ Highgarden Tower is an affordable component of the RXR Master Plan, bringing 5,500 new dwelling units to the city’s downtown. SBJ Group is proud to have shepherded this project from its conception, meeting with local community groups and presenting at city council meetings, to achieving all required approvals and ultimately residential occupancy.

Community Impact:
Highgarden Tower provides hundreds of affordable units, including 77 apartments for families in need of supportive services by New Destiny Housing. The planning of Highgarden Tower extends beyond the building itself and its affordable residential components. An 8,000 SF incubator space for the New Rochelle community is located on the first and second floors of the building. The street front façade incorporates art vitrines for the curated exhibits and promotion of local artists. A public plaza with landscaping, benches and lighting is designed to activate the corner lot and provide a gracious civic space across from the Metro North train station.
Prior to the development of Highgarden Tower, the site served as a municipal parking lot with a history of industrial uses. In developing the project, the site participated in the Department of Environmental Conservation's successful Brownfield Cleanup Program. Today, the property has been improved to provide a new sustainable building housing beautiful affordable apartments, community and civic spaces, residential and municipal parking. Highgarden Tower is an integral component of the reimagined downtown New Rochelle.

Organization Description:
SBJ Group and Georgica Green Ventures have collaborated on numerous successful housing projects in communities across New York State. Community engagement and partnership was vital to the successful completion of Highgarden Tower, with the project serving as an exemplary example of City, State, and private entities banding together to bring a much-needed affordable and supportive housing resource to fruition in a neighborhood where it was crucially needed.

Team Members:

SBJ Group: Jennifer Cheuk, Gavri Slasky, Dina Mahmoud, Lior Mantzur, Luke Cunnington
GGV, W20th Construction, WSP, Ventrop, VHB, GEI, SESI, Bright Power, AKRF