Million-Dollar Housing Development Underway in Pleasantville

A project first approved by the Village of Pleasantville in 2004 is finally making some headway.

An approximately four-acre property—straddling Pleasantville's Bedford Road (Route 117) and South Greeley Avenue in Chappaqua—has been divided into six lots, each of which will hold a single family home.

Each lot is about 0.5 acres. Lot 6, at approximately 0.8 acres, "is the biggest one," said Imma Carletto, associate broker with Houlihan Lawrence.

So far, lots 1, 3 and 5 have already sold and two of the designs have already been approved by the village's architectural review board.

"We have two sold and the third is going into contract," explained Carletto.

For the homes that have already been approved, Pleasantville Building Inspector Michael Testa said, "The next step would be to issue a building permit."

He added there were "caveats in the original resolutions" that call for water and sewer work on-site before the homes are built.

Last week, the water lines were tested to "verify their integrity in accordance with the health department," he said.

The site also underwent soil remediation testing "a year-and-a-half ago," according to Testa as it was , which closed in 2002.

The property became notable last summer when Lawrence Otis Graham and Pamela Thomas-Graham, who live across the street, had their property . They believed their well water was contaminated because of its proximity to the site, which eventually led the Grahams to seek joining New Castle in order to gain access to its municipal water line.

The land has remained largely vacant over the past several years after "funding fell through" for the contractor, Testa told Patch during a July 2011 interview.

And now that Pleasantville Village Estates is moving forward, it is doing so quickly—Carletto said one family hopes to move in by the summer so the children can attend the in the fall.

The three homes sold so far cost the buyers approximately $1 million apiece, said the agent, though some original design ideas were scaled down.

"We have reduced the square footage because we've gotten so many requests for smaller houses," she explained.

While design and construction firm Frontier Contractors created several renderings for potential homeowners to choose from—ranging from 2,500 to 3,000 square feet—"the houses are still customizable," Carletto said.

"If you come in and decide what you want, you can meet with the builder's design team," she said.

However, once the water lines are approved, the project will most likely move forward swiftly.

"We're waiting for the final water connection and as soon as it gets the OK, we're going to do six foundations at once," Carletto revealed.

At that point, potential buyers will have to design their homes within the pre-built foundations.

Testa said he anticipates the building permits and water permits will be issued "within 30 days."

"They should be finished by September," predicted Carletto. "If they get started with them now...the first two have to go up pretty quickly."

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