The owner of a seven-and-a-half acre building site in Tarrytown is proposing a plan to turn it into about 240 new multi-family housing units.

303 South Broadway Building Company LLC and its parent company AmTrust Realty Corp. have filed a petition with the village for an amendment to its zoning code that would allow homes to be built on certain properties zoned for office buildings.

"It is clearly time for it to be repurposed and reimagined for a new and different use," said Brad Schwartz, the attorney representing AmTrust Realty Corp.

Ownership says the building is currently around 43% vacant and expects to lose another 14% of its occupants within the year.

Management argues rezoning would allow it to "adaptively reuse" the existing office space without tearing down the structure to address the shortage of available housing while being environmentally friendly at the same time.

"There's certainly a trend of taking existing office buildings that are underperforming and looking to transform them into productive uses," said Schwartz.

Ownership acknowledged Governor Kathy Hochul's push for municipalities, particularly those in the suburbs, to increase their housing stock as part of her statewide Housing Compact that didn't make the final budget.

Village officials did not respond to our request for a comment on the proposal but Mayor Karen Brown made short comments following the proposal presentation at the board's last work session on April 26.

"You did a beautiful architectural job," said Tarrytown Village Mayor Karen Brown.

The board will hold its next scheduled work session on May 10 at 6:00 p.m. at the village hall where this item is expected to be put on the agenda.