LANSING, N.Y. — The Village Solars project was the subject of controversy last fall as it pursued and received a waiver to explore potential modifications to the complex’s phased build-out. But now, it seems the original plan will move forward.
The controversy started when Steve Lucente and his son Rocco Jr. were negotiating for a potential purchase of Rocco Lucente Sr.’s property to the east of the Village Solars project. The elder Lucente had passed away, and the son and grandson, who run their own real estate business, were looking to potentially add the land to their adjacent development.
One of the impacts of this potential purchase would have been the location of the proposed community center for the sprawling apartment complex. If the land were acquired from Rocco Sr.’s estate, the plan was to build a larger community center on land more centrally located between the two parcels. However, the negotiations with Rocco Sr.’s estate would have pushed beyond the legal requirements of the specially-zoned Planned Development Area (PDA, similar to Ithaca city’s PUD), which required the Community Center be ready for occupancy by the end of this year.
Given this dilemma, the Lucentes approached the town of Lansing’s Planning Board and Town Board to ask for a waiver of one year on the community center (completion no later than December 31, 2021), to give them time to negotiate with Rocco Sr.’s estate. The Planning Board makes a recommendation, and the Town Board uses that in making the final decision; three yes votes are required to issue the waiver. The Planning Board recommended the waiver, and the Town Board allowed it in a 3-1 vote last August (one board member was absent), with board members Doug Dake (R), Katrina Binkewicz (D) and town supervisor Ed LaVigne (R) voting in favor, and board member Joe Wetmore (D) opposed.
The controversy stemmed from an $8,400 donation the Lucentes had made to the town of Lansing’s Republican committee six weeks before the vote, leading to allegations that the issuance of the waiver was politically-driven. To date, nothing has been substantiated regarding the allegations. Lavigne won re-election in a tight race last November.
A few months have passed, and according to paperwork filed with the town, the Lucentes are moving forward with the original community center plan for the Village Solars project. According to Rocco Lucente Jr., negotiations with his grandfather’s estate are ongoing. “(W)e couldn’t get it negotiated in a timely enough fashion that we could be confident in changing our plan. As you know, there was a time crunch involved concerning the amount of time the waiver was good for.”
In other words, they might still purchase the land at some point, but with the waiver only being for one year, it would likely have not occurred within the necessary time frame.
“If I am being completely honest, the political nonsense that happened in Lansing also didn’t help,” said Rocco Lucente Jr.
However, in pursuing the original plan, the Lucentes will be going back before the board for one more waiver. As revised in 2017, the PDA doesn’t allow them to start construction on any other apartment buildings at the time – they could get construction permits to build three more buildings before the community center had to start construction, and they have started three buildings since the revised PDA was issued. The Lucentes would like to be able to obtain construction permits for one more building before starting the community center, but they are not seeking a waiver for the building’s certificate of occupancy, which is what allows tenants to move in. That can wait until after the community center’s certificate is issued.
It sounds confusing, but it has to do with the planned build-out. The Lucentes and their in-house construction crew typically build two apartment buildings at a time, staggered a couple of months apart. They want to be able to start the 24-unit building at 117 Village Circle North, and then not long after start construction on the community center with its amenities and 20 apartment units. Both would be ready for occupancy within a month of each other in the summer of 2021.
However, 117 Village Circle North will take more time to build because the demolition of an existing 8-unit apartment building needs to happen first, while the community center site is already cleared and ready to go. If they try to do it the other way around, 117 wouldn’t be ready in time for the local rental cycle, which is driven by the academic calendar (i.e. August-August), even for many general market apartment complexes like the Village Solars. Not being ready in time would jeopardize the construction loan needed to move forward, and risk about 45 construction jobs. The Lucentes don’t need 117 to be occupied first, but they need construction to start sooner in order for it to be done by August 2021.
“We are on time, on budget, the project is going very well. We should have our current two (#36 & #119) completed by June and July. The next two (community center and #117) will come the next summer, and the final two (#2 & 22) will be the summer after that! So by Summer 2022 the current project will be completed,” said Rocco Lucente Jr.
As for after 2022? Who knows. Maybe the younger Lucentes will be developing Rocco Sr.’s land by then, or maybe not. We’ll see what happens in the meanwhile.