Plans to develop a multipurpose attraction at the Charles Point Marina in Peekskill got a boost from Albany this month when the State Legislature approved a bill that added the Westchester site to a list of properties exempt from a law restricting manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers from sharing interest in a liquor license.
The $5 million to $6.5 million waterfront development at 5 John Walsh Blvd. is led by Diamond Properties co-owner William Diamond, Peekskill restaurateurs Louis Lanza and John Sharp and Captain Lawrence Brewery founder Scott Vaccaro. The 45,000-square-foot main marina building will include a dining and event space on the second floor and an entertainment complex on the ground floor that is partially leased by the National Maritime Historical Society. The new legislation removes a legal obstacle to Vaccaro”™s opening a Captain Lawrence satellite brewery in the building.
Expected to be signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the bill exempts the Peekskill project from “tied house” restrictions in the state”™s Alcoholic Beverage and Control law that prohibit manufacturers, wholesalers, and importers of alcoholic beverages from exerting control over retailers such as restaurants, bars, and liquor stores.
“Passing this legislation was an important effort to cut the century-old red tape and spur common sense economic development in Westchester,” said state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Democratic lawmaker representing parts of Westchester County and sponsor of the bill.
“The exact law we”™re kind of figuring out right now,” said Lanza, a partner in Hudson Hospitality Group, a Peekskill holding company that owns Hudson Room, Taco Dive Bar, Eagle Saloon and the soon-to-open Buns-n-Bourbon in the northern Westchester city. “But it”™s legal, so whether we can be a partner in it or be a landlord in it, that”™s all legal. Now that the law has passed, we can put time into it to see what makes the best sense.”
Lanza said that Still the One Distillery, a spirits distiller based in Port Chester, also might open on the repurposed property. Diamond, however, said “that piece is still unknown.”
Diamond, who signed a 50-year lease for the property with the Peekskill Industrial Development Agency in 2014, said the bill”™s approval is “great for the project.”
“It took a while to get all the pieces in place but we”™re very close to all sides moving,” he said.
The 11-acre lot off John Walsh Boulevard includes the main building that will be used for the restaurant and recreation complex along with a 17,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and a 3,200-square-foot building.
Diamond, whose company also operates Grand Prix New York, a go-kart and bowling entertainment complex in Mount Kisco, said the Peekskill location will offer an indoor and outdoor ropes course, laser tag, an arcade, shuffleboard and bocce courts.
Construction is underway on the Factoria at Charles Point, a 14,000-square-foot restaurant, catering facility and event space on the vacant top floor of the main marina building that will feature outdoor seating and views of the Hudson River. Lanza is driving that venue”™s development along with Sharp, who co-owns the downtown Peekskill eateries Birdsall House and Gleason”™s.
“The main thing is, we can really make this into the destination space it should be,” Lanza said. “It”™s pretty spectacular.”
Lanza ran a dozen restaurants in New York City over a 25-year span before setting his sights on the redevelopment of Peekskill. He said the Factoria at Charles Point will host a seafood restaurant, Trattoria Coastal, along with offering menu items from Sharp”™s and his own Peekskill restaurants.
Diamond said he expects the complex to open in late winter this year or early spring of 2017.
“These sort of entertainment complexes, in today”™s world, are becoming more regular,” he said, adding that family-friendly, multipurpose centers are what many communities are looking for.
The redevelopment of Charles Point is part of a larger revitalization in the city of Peekskill. Lanza, who invested the money he earned from the sale of his Manhattan property in his Peekskill businesses, is also working to open a Taste of New York Market at the city”™s Metro-North train station as “the focal point” of his holdings there, he said. From the waterfront depot, patrons getting off the train would be able to take a trolley to the marina or to downtown Peekskill.
“It”™s exciting,” Lanza said. “We”™re just getting that funding together now.” He said the Peekskill IDA will front the cost of a trial run of the trolley system this summer. “If it works out, we”™ll get the businesses to figure out a way to make it so the city doesn”™t have to pay for it.”
Lanza”™s ultimate hope is to turn Peekskill into the prime destination for visitors to Westchester County. “We want to give people a New York City experience without the attitude,” he said.
Vacant? I don’t know about the other tenants, but the National Maritime Historical Society, headquartered in the building underneath the restaurant space, is still operating there.