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Port Chester, Town Of Rye Approve Village Hall Lease

PORT CHESTER, N.Y. -- The Town of Rye and the village of Port Chester have approved a lease that would allow Rye town officials to leave Rye Town Hall and move into Port Chester Village Hall later this year.

Rye Town Hall was sold in July, and the Town of Rye is set to move out by the end of May.

Rye Town Hall was sold in July, and the Town of Rye is set to move out by the end of May.

Photo Credit: Casey Donahue

The town sold Rye Town Hall to the owners of Neri's Bakery and the Capitol Theatre in July for $1.85 million. The building, located at 10 Pearl St. in Port Chester, was underutilized, in need of repairs and was costing the town hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. The new owners will use the property for a mixed residential and commercial building with a parking garage.

The new lease, which has been approved by both the Port Chester Board of Trustees and the Rye Town Council, would see the offices of the Town of Rye move into space at Port Chester Village Hall, located at 222 Grace Church St. The building also contains offices for Sen. George Latimer, Assemblyman Steve Otis, and the Port Chester-Rye Brook-Rye Town Chamber of Commerce. The Rye Town Court would move to the village court building at 350 N. Main St.

The lease is for 10 years, with options to renew for two additional five-year terms. The rent would be $67,500 for the first year, and increase 3 percent every year after that. Work needs to be completed at both Village Hall and the courthouse. The town will spend $95,000 on the Village Hall repairs, which will be taken out of its rent for the first five years of the agreement. For the court building renovations, the village will spend $50,000 and the town will spend $25,000. Utilities at the courthouse will be included with rent, but will be extra at Village Hall. Over the 10-year period, the town will pay the village a total of $678,811.65 in rent.

The town was originally supposed to move out of Town Hall at the end of 2013, but was delayed due to the work that needed to be completed at Village Hall and the courtroom. The town will now likely move out in May, according to Rye Town Attorney Paul Noto. The town has to be out of the Town Hall building by June 23, Noto said, or they will have to pay the new owners a monthly rent of about $1,500. According to Town Secretary Bishop Nowotnik, the town is on schedule to move out on time.

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