A developer is seeking to acquire the former Pace campus in Briarcliff Manor and turn the 37-acre site into 110 luxury townhomes and five single-family homes.
Rose Enterprises and principal Leonard Glickman appeared before the village Board of Trustees on Sept. 16 as the first step in a process that would include finalizing the purchase of the property and approval of a new zoning designation to accommodate the proposal.
David Steinmetz, of the law firm Zarin and Steinmetz, said Rose Enterprise was in contract to buy the campus from Yeshivath Viznitz Dkhal Torath Chaim, but had not yet formally submitted plans to the village. He said he hoped to have a formal proposal before the board in October.
The Elm Road campus, which has been vacant for nearly a decade, is zoned to allow single-family homes on lots of at least 40,000 square feet, and would need rezoning to a planned unit development designation for the townhomes. The so-called PUD zoning has not yet been adopted by the village.
The proposed single-family homes would front Tuttle Road and the townhome development would include 10 acres of open space, buffers, a pool with a clubhouse, and would be in walking distance of the downtown. The development’s walking trails would be open to the public, Glickman said.
The townhome clusters would include two-, three- and four-bedroom units. These units would be “fee simple” ownership, meaning they would be taxed at full value rather than at the lower rate that condominium owners in the village pay.
Redevelopment would put the tax-exempt campus back on the tax rolls to the tune of about $5 million annually, based on an estimate provided by BFJ Planning, about $1 million of which would go to the village and $3.3 million to local schools.
All 10 vacant buildings on the campus (described by the village as being “in various states of disrepair”) would have to be demolished. That includes the dining hall, offices, classrooms, dormitories, and Dow Hall, which was constructed in the early 20th century when the site was home to Briarcliff College. Some of Dow Hall’s historic features might be salvaged.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity to be part of what may be the re-imaging of the Pace University site,” said Glickman, whose Rose Equities has been involved in development throughout Westchester. “We are very cognizant of being committed to community outreach, to listening, to hearing what our neighbors have to say,
A presentation by Sarah Yackel of BFJ, the village’s consulting planner, recommended the PUD zoning to create housing opportunities to address Briarcliff’s declining population that comprises fewer children and more residents aged 50 and over.
The proposal is the latest chapter in a saga that began when the Monsey-based congregation bought the property for $11.5 million in 2021.
The yeshiva requested a special permit to operate a school for hundreds of college-age men, but filed a federal lawsuit against the village in 2023 claiming religious discrimination after two years of hearings that didn’t result in approvals.
In December 2024, the village and yeshiva reached an agreement to suspend litigation and explore alternative uses of the campus, including residential uses.
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