The vision for District Galleria sounds almost too good to be true, a huge 11,000-square-foot space complete with seven buildings, some high rise, some low-rise buildings, about 3,200 apartments, tons of great restaurants and retail spaces and an outdoor courtyard.
On Thursday, commercial and residential realtors among others heard the developer's plan to redevelop the downtown area. A plan they say will open up the whole city.
"When you think of right now trying to get from the White Plains train station to get into the city of White Plains, you have to walk around this big closed in mall," explains Clayton Livingston, of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors.
But once the Galleria walls come down, and the courtyard is up, Livingston says "you will have this outdoor park area with maybe an ice-skating rink, maybe an amphitheater, definitely outdoor restaurants, outdoor seating, maybe a dog park."
"I think you're going to bring 5,000 or 6,000 more people to downtown who will spend, eat, shop, live." said Cappelli Organization CEO Bruce Berg.
Commercial realtor Garry Klein says this will be prime real estate.
"I think it's a great vision, I think you need that kind of density to bring people downtown and to create that foot traffic that's so sorely needed by retailers. Especially if you want to go after national retailers and really interesting retailers," Klein added.
This project is still in its planning stages and there is much more that needs to happen before it can become a reality. This includes more input from the public. There will be more information sessions in the near future.