Brent W. VanZandt, the city of Peekskill”™s director of public works, recently stood on the banks of the Hudson River at the site of what will soon be a waterfront park. A bald eagle swooped down and with its massive claws plucked a fish out of the water, as if from a scene in a National Geographic special.
He later said he anticipated the former industrial site would become a destination for residents and visitors enjoying the scenery of the gateway of the Hudson Highlands. “In a few years, this place is going to be packed,” he said.
Peekskill Landing, a 4.3-acre waterfront public park, is set to open around Labor Day as part of an overall effort to open access to the Hudson River shoreline to encourage tourism, recreation and spur business. The $3.3 million project will include a boardwalk, a red cedar footbridge with lighting, a kayak launch and a gazebo with a 30-foot diameter.
The city is constructing a 3-mile walkway that spans nearly its entire waterfront on what will be the longest stretch of public land on the Hudson waterfront in Westchester County. The walkway will run from Buchanan northward, where walkers will have a unique view of the Bear Mountain Bridge.
With increased public access to the waterfront, Peekskill officials say, comes increased opportunities for private businesses and residential development nearby. South of Peekskill Landing, the city in recent years has seen several new restaurants and the docking of a river tour boat called the Evening Star.
Michael Welti, director of planning, said the city has applications for three more new restaurants. A Holiday Inn Express opened last spring, and the Lincoln Depot Museum, a 3,000-square-foot building opening on a stop on Abraham Lincoln”™s inauguration tour, is scheduled to open shortly.
“As it all comes together, it gets that much better,” Welti said. Peekskill”™s long-term economic development plan includes redeveloping parts of Central Avenue, a street that connects the waterfront and the city”™s downtown. There are talks by some local businesses to fund a shuttle or trolley system from the water to the downtown.
The city, which has had seen increasing interest in residential development, including a nine-story building downtown, is tapping into a housing trend: Young educated adults are choosing to live in urban environments close to public transportation, and Peekskill”™s station is adjacent to Peekskill Landing. The Peekskill Business Improvement District has a slogan: “You can move to the suburbs but still live in the city.”
The city is very walkable, Welti said. “As a historical city, we already have those bones,” he said.
The waterfront was once a booming center of industry and a popular commercial port in the days before the railroad was built. In the early 20th century it was the site of lumberyards and other businesses, but several of the waterfront parcels went vacant by the latter half of the century.
In 1998, the land trust organization Scenic Hudson reached a deal to buy the Peekskill Landing property, then entered an agreement with the city to clean up the site and convert it into parkland. Plans for the property were delayed as the environmental remediation process took longer than expected and grant moneys were slow to be approved. The cleanup and construction included city funds, which were offset by a $1.1 million Department of Environmental Conservation grant and $2.2 million from Empire State Development, as well as several other grants.
Peekskill contracted Quennell, Rothschild & Partners L.L.P. as architect in 2005 and the cleanup was completed in late 2011. The city hired Con Tech Construction to build the park based on its design plans. An aspect city officials said they have high hopes for is a small amphitheater and two lawn areas where small concerts can be held while families sit on the grass or picnic. Officials told the Business Journal Peekskill had a large turnout for their Independence Day celebration and there are nearly weekly outdoor events during summer.
Jean Friedman, planner with the Department of Planning and Development, said the efforts of waterfront reclamation dating back to the 1970s were now producing dividends. “We always knew we had value on the waterfront,” she said.
Peekskill Landing will include artistic landscaping and several public-art sculptures. There were 58 proposals from local artists, according to Friedman. A five-person committee whittled that down to five finalists and then chose three to be installed on 30-foot diameter spaces along the walking trail. The first sculpture, which will join other public-art sculptures in place elsewhere on the waterfront, will be installed July 23.
City Manager Anthony Ruggiero said the art works well with the backdrop. “The best sculpture in the world ”“ the Hudson,” he said. It wasn”™t long ago that Peekskill carried a stigma among outsiders. Ruggiero said that is slowly fading as word gets out that the city is clean, safe and a nice place to live and do business. “I think the message is getting out there,” he said.
