The planning of the Residences at Jefferson Place in downtown White Plains required creative solutions to challenging site conditions occuring at the juncture between two adjoining neighborhoods. The project occupies a highly-visible, steeply sloping, four-acre parcel in the southern portion of the city’s central business district. It faces a busy Mamaroneck Avenue on its east frontage and an established residential area on its west side, with an intervening grade change of thirty-five feet.

The site master plan, developed with the client and the architect, integrated 43 low-rise townhomes facing the residential neighborhood with a 238-unit mid-rise condominium building with ground floor retail space on Mamaroneck Avenue. It is serviced by an internal driveway accessing a multi-level parking garage in the center of the site, positioned to shield the view of the mid-rise building from nearby houses.

DTS met with the White Plains Common Council and neighborhood associations, before and during the site plan application process, in an iterative process that identified and addressed community concerns. Extensive coordination with mechanical, structural, and geotechnical consultants and utility companies was necessary to ensure new infrastructure and stormwater facilities could be efficiently accommodated within the site’s constraints.

The resulting high-quality, mixed-use development adds vitality to the south end of the city’s commercial corridor with a pedestrian-oriented streetscape, while maintaining the scale and visual character of the residential neighborhood to the west.