The entity SB Yonkers Realty LLC, associated with Urban Builder Collaborative in Manhattan is seeking Yonkers Planning Board approval of site plans for a $159.4 million project on three properties, 325, 335 and 337 S. Broadway. The proposal is for construction of a new eight-story mixed-use building that would be attached to a five-level garage and would include a new 7,940 square feet commercial space, which is expected to house a branch of the U.S. Post Office.
The proposal was expected to be presented to the Yonkers Planning Board at its meeting on Sept. 10.
The site currently consists of three properties. The property at 337 S. Broadway is a Yonkers Parking Authority open-air parking lot located on the northwest corner of Morris Street and South Broadway. The property at 325 S. Broadway formerly housed the Flynn Memorial Home and currently is vacant. The third location at 335 S. Broadway is where a branch of the U.S. Post Office currently is located. Postal operations would be relocated until new space is ready for the agency.
The new building would contain 181 apartments with one reserved for the building’s superintendent. The others would be priced to serve affordable and workforce income levels. There would be 71 studios, 62 one-bedroom apartments, 34 two-bedroom units and 14 three-bedroom units.
The attached parking structure on the south side of the property in place of the existing parking lot would have 350 parking spaces. It would replace the 70 spaces currently available in the street-level municipal lot as well as having the additional parking required for the apartments. In addition, nine parking spaces would be located at the rear of the building to serve the commercial space. The developer says that there would be a surplus of parking spaces above what is required under Yonkers zoning.
The building will have its entrance on South Broadway. In addition to a new post office, the main level of the apartment building would have an entrance lobby, management office, security office, mail room, package room, laundry facilities and fitness room. There will also be a private exterior playground area at grade level on the north side of the property with landscaping. There also would be a tenant amenity outdoor space over the fifth floor of the building facing South Broadway.
The project already has received needed variances from the Yonkers Zoning Board of Appeals. They include exceeding the maximum permitted height, with 80 feet allowed under zoning and 84 feet 11 inches proposed for the height of the new building. The permitted building width under zoning is 100 feet and a variance was granted for the proposed building to be almost 165 feet in width. Additional variances to allow fences to be higher than the six feet permitted under zoning were approved.
Attorney Steven Accinelli of the Yonkers-based law firm Veneruso, Curto, Schwartz & Curto, LLP told the Yonkers ZBA, the city has approved the transfer of the Parking Authority’s property at 337 S. Broadway to be included in the proposed project.
Anthony Guccione of JMC Site Development Consultants told the ZBA that the three parcels would be consolidated into one property. He said the main access to the property would be from South Broadway with a secondary access at the rear of the property aligned with Elliott Avenue.
“There are new sidewalks proposed along the entire street frontages of South Broadway and Moore Street,” Guccione said and noted that the city is proposing greenway improvements along South Broadway. He said that landscaping round the property and fences would provide visual buffers along with new tress that are proposed to be planted. He said some of the fencing would be up to eleven feet in height.
Jessica Gordon, who until earlier this year was executive director of the South Broadway Business Improvement District, spoke in favor of the project before the ZBA.
“It would bring invaluable investment and development in Southwest Yonkers,” Gordon said, praising the developer for having done their homework and making changes requested by the community.
“Right now the lots are deteriorating. The businesses are closing,” Gordon said. “There are more vacancies on South Broadway than ever because people are leaving because there’s nowhere viable to live. This is a catalyst of the renaissance of Southwest Yonkers.”
