The developer Saber-Hightower LLC, which is based in Briarcliff Manor is seeking site plan approval from Yonkers to construct a 17-story mixed-use building with 282 residential units at the Ridge Hill complex. The site is 0.9-acre in size and is situated at 22 Lembo Drive, also identified as Parcel K in Ridge Hill. Ridge Hill is a mixed-use lifestyle center that opened in 2011.
The co-founders of Saber-Hightower are Martin Berger, Gregory Belew and Doug Browne. Among the company’s projects are The Lively Apartments in Jersey City, Rivertown Square in Dobbs Ferry, The Smyth in Stamford and Hudson Heritage in Poughkeepsie.
The Ridge Hill development would be known as The Ibex at Ridge Hill. There would be 4,823 square feet of retail space in the new building. The project would need to provide 423 parking spaces and plans to have 435 spaces available. They would be provided in the adjacent Market Street Garage.
Parking spaces on the first, second and third levels of the garage would continue to be made available for public use. Other spaces on the third, fourth and fifth levels would be reserved for residents of the building. A gate with either a license plate reader or card reading device would be used to keep the public out and allow access for tenants.
A study by DTS Provident Design Engineering pointed out that the existing garage serves various facilities within Ridge Hill, especially the Whole Foods supermarket. It said that Whole Foods patrons tend to park on Level 2. On Level 1, some Whole Foods patrons park but a large portion of the people parking their vehicles on that floor are employees of Whole Foods, Summit Health and other businesses.
“Observations of the parking garage demonstrate that there is sufficient parking in this garage, including to support the proposed residential use,” the study said. “Many of the existing parking spaces are vacant, especially the upper floors that get further away from the Whole Foods entrance.”
Attorney Janet Giris of the White Plains-based law firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr LLP described the applicant Saber-Hightower as a real estate development firm with more than $3 billion in completed developments nationwide and a focus on multifamily, retail, mixed-use, and hospitality.
“The applicant has background experience that spans both institutional platforms and entrepreneurial ventures that offers a well-rounded agile approach to complex real estate challenges,” Giris said.
Saber-Hightower has a contract to buy the property from Ridge Hill Property Owner LLC. Its building would have a unit mix of 33 studios, 127 one-bedroom apartments, 13 1.5-bedroom units, 97 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom apartments. Planned amenities include a landscaped garden area, outdoor pool, yoga and fitness rooms, and a lounge area located on the ground floor. There would be approximately 4,750 square feet of additional outdoor and indoor amenity space on the 17th floor.
The building would provide new landscaping at ground level as well as green roof areas. It would be all-electric and would be designed to permit future installation of solar cells. Each unit would have a washer and dryer.
