Business Insights: Public/Private Partnerships

Luiz Aragon brings to the City of New Rochelle over two decades of governmental experience in New York City and upstate New York; and the momentum necessary to prepare our City for the next phase in our history. His broad expertise includes community development, economic development and revitalization, housing, planning, transportation, and environmental management.

Under his leadership, New Rochelle has been able to reposition itself as a leading transit oriented development (TOD) destination in the tri-state area.  In partnership with the City Council, Mr. Aragon has rezoned approximately 300 acres of the City’s downtown to accommodate over 10 million square feet of development.  His accomplishments also include catalytic chances regarding our City’s branding and technology initiatives.

Preceding his appointment as Commissioner for Development for the City of New Rochelle, Mr. Aragon served as Commissioner for Planning and Environmental Management for Sullivan County, NY and Deputy Commissioner for Preservation Services for NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

As Planning Commissioner in Sullivan County, Mr. Aragon led the Economic Development Corporation, which acted as the catalyst for economic revitalization in the County. His extensive portfolio included the revitalization of main streets throughout the County, the advancement and repositioning of the Concord Hotel and Casino development, and a variety of additional creative and new job-generating investment opportunities. Furthermore, Mr. Aragon was the County representative in Governor Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council and played a key role in the Mid-Hudson Region Sustainability Consortium.

During his tenure with HPD, Mr. Aragon was responsible for half of HPD’s workforce and his contributions ranged from a variety of innovative management and technological tools designed to enhance performance and maximize productivity to budget, legislative, and political matters. His responsibilities included the enforcement of the Housing Maintenance code citywide while implementing innovative community and economic revitalization initiatives across New York City. Mr. Aragon was responsible for HPD’s neighborhood preservation efforts citywide in order to assist developers, owners, and tenants in preserving housing conditions and neighborhoods. Those efforts were augmented by the extensive work led by Mr. Aragon regarding the control and abatement of housing related narcotics activities, Housing Litigation initiatives, and the creation and management of the largest municipal housing education program in the country. Earlier in his career at HPD, Mr. Aragon was also responsible for the day-to-day management of the entire HPD-owned housing stock.

Prior to HPD, Mr. Aragon served at New York City’s Department of Transportation as Assistant Commissioner for Capital Projects and as Assistant Commissioner for Planning and Urban Mobility.

Mr. Aragon began his civil service career in New York City government as an architect and planner at the Department of Parks and Recreation and subsequently held positions of increased responsibility in that agency, including Director of the Audit and re-Engineering unit and Director of the Disciplinary unit.

Mr. Aragon earned an MBA from Baruch College, CUNY and a BA in Architecture from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He is a resident of downtown New Rochelle.