Pelham mayor describes $77 million public‑private project to replace municipal buildings and add 127 housing units

Pelham Mayor Edgar Mullen described to the Mamaroneck Board of Trustees a $77 million public‑private partnership that he said traded village land for a new municipal center and downtown housing. The developer will build 127 residential units — with 5% designated as workforce housing at 80% of area median income — ground‑floor commercial space and 60 parking spaces the village can use in perpetuity, while Pelham receives a consolidated municipal center across the street housing the firehouse, village hall and police station.

Mullen said the village sold roughly $6.8 million in land (including a former Capital One bank site) and invested to support the municipal center’s design and build costs. He described a phased tax‑pilot structure: the developer pays smaller amounts initially, a jump to roughly $600,000 in year four, then an annual increase of about 2% until the project is fully assessed and on the tax rolls at year 20. "At year 4, you'll get a bump," Mullen said, adding that the pilot is expected to produce about $12 million in tax relief to the municipality over the transition period.

The mayor explained the village had considered a $17.4 million municipal renovation but chose the partnership to avoid bonding at higher cost and to capture private investment in a downtown the village had not seen in decades. He said negotiations took far longer than the board initially planned — roughly nine months of negotiation followed by multiple studies — and that the final deal was reached through repeated compromise with the developer and public outreach. "It took a lot more time than we had expected," Mullen said.

On housing mix and school impacts, Mullen said the project deliberately limits three‑bedroom units (six total) to control potential increases in school enrollment and that the village commissioned an independent school‑impact study from WXY to estimate long‑term effects and fair‑share fees. He told trustees the municipality pursued regulatory tools adopted in recent years — including a floating business‑district overlay and a fair‑share mitigation law — to make the project feasible and to capture roughly $400,000 in fair‑share fees to pay infrastructure costs.

Trustees asked about affordability levels and whether the 5% workforce set‑aside was meaningful in Pelham’s market. Mullen said local AMI calculations make 80% AMI more attainable here than an across‑the‑county standard but acknowledged that deeply subsidized units would require additional tax credits and public subsidy. "We tried really hard," he said, but added that reaching 60% AMI or higher set‑asides often requires tax credits that change the financing math.

The presentation closed with Mullen urging local officials to expect setbacks and to publicize compromises: "Every time we compromised, we came out to the public and said, 'We are compromising. This is why.'" He invited trustees to follow up with staff if they wanted more detail on financing and legal terms.

What happens next: the Mayor’s presentation was informational; trustees asked questions and did not take a formal vote on any Pelham agreement during the work session. Trustees said they would seek more detail as needed before considering any formal action that might implicate Mamaroneck policy or intermunicipal cooperation.