Shovels are officially in the ground at 28 Pearl Street, where Katherine Acre Partners this week kicked off construction on a nine-story, 170,000-square-foot apartment building in downtown Port Chester. It is the newly formed firm's first project to move into active construction and is expected to deliver about 140 apartments, including 14 affordable units, plus a rooftop amenity package with water views of the Long Island Sound.
What’s going up at 28 Pearl
The nine-story building is planned to include 140 residential units, 14 of them designated as affordable, along with roughly 100 self-park garage spaces, a penthouse clubroom and a large rooftop outfitted with grilling stations and gas fire pits. The amenity lineup is being marketed to both existing locals and commuters who want a walkable downtown lifestyle near the train, according to the New York Real Estate Journal.
Financing and partners
Developers say the $78.5 million project has closed on full construction capitalization, built around a $52.5 million construction loan from a life-insurance company and $26 million of institutional equity. Katherine Acre is developing 28 Pearl in partnership with Fields Grade Development and Lightning Cove Properties and is pitching the building as a catalyst for further downtown investment. “By combining our strengths under a single platform, we have created a development company capable of executing larger and more impactful projects,” co-founder Jake Borden said, as reported by the New York Real Estate Journal.
Site history and cleanup
The 28–34 Pearl Street parcels have a history that is less glossy than the renderings. They were previously the subject of an environmental review after state regulators found that the site posed a significant threat to public health because of soil-vapor contamination. In March 2026, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation released a draft remedial plan recommending excavation of roughly 1,100 cubic yards of contaminated soil for off-site disposal and opened a public comment period. The fact sheet outlining the proposed remedy and the next steps for cleanup underscores the environmental work that has to happen before vertical construction can progress, according to the NYSDEC.
The Embassy: a larger plan for downtown
28 Pearl is not the only big swing Katherine Acre is taking in Port Chester. The firm’s active pipeline also features The Embassy, a public-private redevelopment of the long-vacant Embassy Theatre block at 128–156 North Main Street that secured planning approval this spring. The plan calls for roughly 250 apartments, about 8,700 square feet of ground-floor retail and a 375-space parking structure, with 125 of those spaces reserved for municipal and public use, according to the project’s legal advisers at Cuddy & Feder LLP.
Why this matters
Developers and local officials are framing both projects as transit-oriented infill that will stitch more housing into Port Chester’s walkable core just steps from the Metro-North station. Westchester County and village officials turned up for the 28 Pearl groundbreaking, highlighting the expected economic bump from construction jobs in the near term and new residents in the long term, coverage that Patch noted in its report on the ceremony and community response.
Work is now underway at 28 Pearl, while The Embassy is targeting a groundbreaking in the first quarter of 2027, according to project filings and developer statements. Katherine Acre, formed in April 2026 by Jake Borden and Nick Williams, says it plans to keep chasing transit-oriented multifamily and mixed-use infill opportunities across Westchester and Fairfield counties, with background on the partner firms available from Six Acre Capital and St. Katherine Group.
