Ribbon Cutting Marks Opening of Restaurant Depot in Port Chester

Port Chester's deputy mayor joined business leaders and local leaders this week for a ribbon-cutting marking the opening of Restaurant Depot in Port Chester.

The wholesaler occupies a 78,000-square foot warehouse at 305 S. Regent St. in Port Chester, bringing business back to a property that had long been vacant.

Deputy Mayor Joseph Kenner joined Restaurant Depot CEO Stanley Fleishman for a small ceremony on Wednesday morning, cutting a ribbon as a group of local representatives looked on.

In a statement, Kenner said he was proud of the fact that the project contributed to job growth and revitalization within the village.

“The Restaurant Depot furthers many important Village goals: revitalizing older industrial buildings, creating jobs for Port Chester residents, stabilizing taxes and strengthening our well deserved reputation as the restaurant capital of Westchester," Kenner said. "It is especially encouraging that thirty-nine of the fifty-five jobs created by the project were filled by Port Chester residents.”

Restaurant Depot is a wholesaler and deals directly with restaurant owners. In earlier meetings about the project, planners said local traffic impact would be minimal and restricted to commercial vehicles making deliveries and picking up supplies. The warehouse is not open to individual shoppers.

The opening of Restaurant Depot was also a win for the village's Industrial Development Agency:

"The project received important assistance from the Port Chester Industrial Development Agency in the form of sales and mortgage tax exemptions and an agreement to make a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT). Chairman Pagano noted that the PILOT was of significant benefit to the village: “we were able to freeze the assessed valuation of the building at $10,687,500 thereby locking in a payment that was equal to the taxes currently paid by the property and then develop a schedule of fixed increases over the ten year life of the agreement.” Since nearly 50% of the existing building was demolished as part of the project, the potential existed for the property taxes to be dramatically reduced. This was avoided through the PILOT agreement."

Follow Port Chester Patch!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PortChesterPatch

Twitter: http://twitter.com/PChesterPatch