Nearly seven years after seeing its proposed construction project flushed down the drain by planning officials in Yonkers, a national uniform-supply company has returned to the city with the same plans to build a commercial laundry plant off Executive Boulevard in South Westchester Executive Park.
This time, though, Cintas Corp. first sought support from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency ”” whose chairman is the mayor of Yonkers ”” before going to the city planning board for approval of its $25.1 million regional service facility.
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas told the IDA board it wants to consolidate its uniform-supply and service operations for 30,000 people in the New York metropolitan area and outlying counties at a 60,000-square-foot facility to be built at 325 Corporate Blvd. South in Yonkers. The plant would include a 13,000-square-foot laundry, 9,000 square feet of office space and additional sales, service and maintenance areas.
Attorney Alfred B. DelBello, who represents Cintas in their Yonkers application, said the company has a large operation in Brewster but wants to be closer to New York City “where they do most of their work.”
Yonkers city officials said the uniform company”™s textile processing and warehouse and distribution operations in Boston, Philadelphia, northern New Jersey, Port Washington, Montgomery and North Salem also would be consolidated in Yonkers.
The plant would employ about 160 workers, Yonkers officials said. They said Cintas expects 50 percent or more of the jobs will be filled locally after some company employees at its facilities in North Salem and Port Washington transfer to Yonkers. The project also would provide an estimated 25 full-time construction jobs over the 11-month construction period.
“This is a strong addition to the city”™s economy, and jobs that we can count on for the long term,” Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said in a press release. Spano heads the IDA board of directors. “At least half of these jobs will be new hires from Yonkers and surrounding communities, and all of the jobs will add to the city”™s tax base and expand our business community.”
The Yonkers IDA board at a Nov. 19 meeting gave its preliminary approval of financial incentives for the project. Cintas would receive up to $722,500 in sales tax exemptions on construction materials and furnishings and equipment for the plant. IDA officials also agreed to negotiate a property tax abatement agreement for the development.
The Yonkers planning board in January 2008 denied an application by Cintas Corp. for the same project in South Westchester Executive Park. The board said the laundry operation, which would consume 80,000 gallons of water a day, was not similar in character and impact to permitted uses, including light industrial, in the city”™s planned executive park zone.
The planning board in 2008 also noted that truck traffic to and from the plant would use city streets and an already congested Executive Boulevard.
Six months after that rejection, Cintas Corp. and the owner of the plant”™s proposed site, Robert Martin Co., filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court that sought to overturn the board”™s decision, arguing the laundry facility did qualify as a light industrial use. The company and the landlord dropped their lawsuit two months later.
Christina Gilmartin, Spano”™s spokeswoman at Yonkers City Hall, in an email said Cintas this year “needed to approach the IDA first to ensure the project could be viable enough to advance to the planning stage.” The project will now be presented to the planning board, she said.
DelBello, who also represented Cintas in its 2008 application, dismissed the concerns about truck traffic raised by the planning board seven years ago. All truck traffic to and from the plant will be during off-peak early-morning and afternoon hours, he said.
“We wanted to get the inducement first” from the IDA, said DelBello, referring to the resolution of support approved by the board. “The IDA found it is an acceptable use. That should carry some weight with the planning board.”
Seven years after sinking the Cintas project, “I think they will be more receptive to it,” DelBello said. “I have no question about that.”
A publicly traded company, Cintas reported revenues of $4.32 billion and net income of $315.4 million in 2013. It has about 30,000 employees at more than 430 facilities in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
