Iona Students Deliver Recommendations for Port Chester Waterfront Activation
New Rochelle, N.Y. — Iona University students recently delivered recommendations for the activation of Port Chester’s waterfront after a six-week study organized by the Westchester Innovation Network’s City Labs initiative.
Students from Iona’s Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation recommended public space enhancements; commercial and recreational features; interactive technology; new lighting; greenery; and cultural features like public art or a small stage. Port Chester is targeting about 1,600 feet of waterfront along the Byram River in its downtown stretching from the Bar Taco restaurant to the Costco Wholesale store.
“Our idea for the Port Chester waterfront is to have people visit, but to also stay around and want to keep coming back,” said student Sarina Vietri, who proposed electrified kiosks that would serve as charging stations and wi-fi transmitters. “People can connect to the wi-fi, they can do schoolwork, they can do meetings. They’ll be able to hang out, enjoy the space and put it to good use.”
The students reached their conclusions after interviewing or surveying more than 30 residents, business owners and stakeholders in Port Chester and studying successful waterfront redevelopment projects nationwide. Students combined their research results with online artificial intelligence tools to create artist renderings of public amenities that Port Chester should consider placing along its waterfront.
Port Chester Village Manager Stuart Rabin praised the students’ research.
“We don’t have a consensus about what’s going down there, which is why this exercise is so valuable to us, to understand your perspective,” said Rabin. “The designs that you have provided, the ideas, I think they are a phenomenal head start.”
The students also recommended a greater communications effort about the waterfront redevelopment by village authorities.
The Iona-Port Chester City Labs collaboration is part of the Business Council of Westchester’s WIN-related efforts to propel innovation as the underpinning for the future economic growth of Westchester. The BCW WIN’s City Labs spotlights a host community and teams that municipality with individuals focused on identifying projects to assist in delivering immediate economic benefit to that community and its residents through innovation.
“You have done an incredible, deep study,” BCW CEO Marsha Gordon told the students after their presentation. “I see presentations that are done by professionals who are charging multi-thousands of dollars and I’ve never seen one as comprehensive as this. Congratulations.”
The Port Chester collaboration was the sixth City Labs project. Previous iterations were in Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Peekskill, White Plains and Yonkers.
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona also continues to be recognized in prestigious national rankings. Most recently for 2025, Iona has been named one of the nation’s best colleges by The Princeton Review, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and others. Additionally, U.S. News & World Report recognized Iona as one of top for social mobility in the country, while Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) ranked an Iona degree in the top 5 percent nationally for long-term return on investment. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business, meanwhile, is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just 6 percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2024.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with one of the nation’s top hospitals. Connecting to its Irish heritage, Iona also opened a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland, located on the historic 400-acre Westport House Estate. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.