Yonkers IDA approves financial incentives for $177.3M riverfront apartment project

The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency has approved a package of financial incentives for a $177.3 million apartment project being developed by Rose Associates of Manhattan on 6.16 acres of land along the riverfront.

The Business Journal previously reported that Rose Associates had an agreement to buy the property for $23 million by the end of the year from Altman Stage Lighting Co., Altman Holdings LLC and Ron Rob Realty Corp. The stage lighting company plans to relocate its business from 57 Alexander St., according to the IDA application Rose had submitted.

The IDA on Oct. 2 approved a mortgage recording tax exemption of approximately $1.7 million for the mortgage loan or loans with an aggregate principal amount of $115.2 million. The resolution also allowed exemptions from state and local sales and use taxes on the buying of goods and services for the project worth up to $42.9 million. That would save the developer an amount not to exceed $3,807,375.

The IDA also provided for a partial real estate property tax abatement but did not include details. It was to be negotiated in a separate tax agreement mortgage.

Rose Associates”™ plan calls for a 7-story building with 440 rental apartments, 10% of which would be in the affordable category. There would be 443 parking spaces. The developer proposes 25,000 square feet of open space on the waterfront with a public walkway for river access. It said that its property would connect with waterfront sites north and south of its property.

The developer has estimated that the project would create 631 construction jobs and, when completed, 10 full-time jobs. The developer said that the project would take 24 months to build with construction beginning in July 2020 and an anticipated completion date in June 2022.

In its application, Rose said that the sales and mortgage tax breaks, plus a 20-year property tax abatement, “will help make the project financially viable.” It also referred to the site as a “now derelict and largely inaccessible” industrial section area north of downtown. The property has five warehouses and a storage shed.

The site was cited in The Alexander Street Master Plan that had been adopted by the city council in 2009. The plan established a framework for the redevelopment of a section of the city”™s Hudson River waterfront. It called for a mix of residential, retail, commercial and open space uses in an area covering approximately 153 acres.