New Rochelle is a classic New York suburban bedroom community. Its recent transformation is the result of concerted planning that began about a decade ago.
Efforts to revitalize a once-thriving downtown stalled after the Great Recession, in part because builders found it difficult to get projects approved. In 2015, city leaders adopted a new strategy to jump-start development within a 300-acre area surrounding a train station where commuters can catch a 37-minute ride to Midtown Manhattan.
Now, New Rochelle is creating a new skyline of high-rise apartment buildings. More than 4,500 new units are already online, with another 6,500 on the way, including a mix of market rate and affordable units. That is significantly boosting housing supply in a municipality of 80,000 people. Rents in New Rochelle are holding steady, in contrast to steep increases elsewhere. Meanwhile, a NIMBY backlash of the sort that often sinks big development plans never materialized.
Noam Bramson, who served as mayor from 2006 to 2024, says the strategy had three key components, each of which had been tried in other cities but not all together. First, the city struck a master development agreement giving a single company exclusive right to build on city-owned land. Although the deal covered only 12 acres — just a fraction of the overall site — this built momentum for the broader vision.
Second, New Rochelle adopted an innovative zoning overlay for the whole area. Unlike traditional zoning with its rigid rules, New Rochelle’s form-based code is very flexible about what uses can go where, so long as new buildings conform to design principles that encourage a pleasant urban environment and walkability.
Third (and most importantly in Bramson’s view), New Rochelle put the entire build-out plan through state environmental review in one shot. That spared individual proposals the political and legal grind that often slows things to a halt. Developers can typically get plans approved within 90 days, assuming they fit within the larger vision.
“We did not get rid of environmental review,” Bramson says, adding that the overall plan went through a more robust public engagement process than the law requires. “What we said is we’re going to look at it comprehensively and do it up front. And then everything that comes in subsequently has a much smoother path.”
Yadira Ramos-Herbert, who succeeded Bramson as mayor last year and strongly supports the redevelopment plan, agrees that expediting review in this way is a key takeaway. “Pulling it out of a council vote for every project helps you get ahead of the NIMBY energy,” Ramos-Herbert says. “If you follow the parameters, you’re going to get approved.”
Ramos-Herbert continually reminds residents of the property tax revenue and other benefits new development is bringing in, including a black-box theater, a playground, electric vehicle chargers, public space improvements and flood mitigation. Repeating this message has grown more critical as residents get tired of traffic jams and other hassles associated with construction.
Change is often hard to sustain through turnover in administrations. New Rochelle has benefited from a consistent vision spanning successive mayors. “We’ve got to finish the job,” Ramos-Herbert says. “We’ve authorized 11,000 units downtown. Let’s get the 11,000 units.”
