1940s public housing building demolished for Yonkers redevelopment
Phase five of the six-phase $296 million master plan to redevelop the Cottage Place public housing complex in Yonkers moved into high gear on Jan. 11 when demolition crews went to work on an apartment building from the mid-1940s.
The building is being replaced with 178 Warburton at The Ridgeway, a $56 million mixed-income residential facility with 81 apartments and a host of amenities.
The eight-story building will feature a unit mix of six studio units, 35 one-bedrooms and 40 two-bedrooms, with average unit sizes of 417, 652 and 914 gross square feet, respectively. The units will include dishwashers, microwaves and air conditioning. The building will include a common laundry room and a rooftop resident center composed of a resident meeting/lounge space, an outdoor terrace and a fitness room. Parking will be free. The units are affordable to families with a mix of incomes, ranging from 30% to 90% of area median income.
In addition, the building will include a new Early Head Start day care center serving infants and toddlers from families with lower incomes. The space will include eight classrooms, a family resources room, a warming kitchen, washer and dryer, staff offices, storage and refuse areas, plus an additional 1,271-square-foot rooftop play area.
The project also includes a 33,000-square-foot centrally located open space and recreation area to be created in partnership with the city of Yonkers, utilizing funding from Westchester County.
“The redevelopment of Cottage Gardens into The Ridgeway is yet another example of how Yonkers is revitalizing our neighborhoods and improving the lives of our residents,” said Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, who with Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers (MHACY) President and CEO Wilson Kimball, MHACY Board Chairman James Landy and Lauren Hauck, development project manager of The Community Builder Inc., were among those on hand to witness the demolition.
In November, the Business Journal reported that the overall project would create more than 500 new and renovated apartments in a southwest Yonkers neighborhood that”™s along Warburton Avenue and somewhat north of Ashburton Avenue and south of Lamartine. More than 240 units have been completed so far.
“The whole area of Warburton that it is replacing has been radically changed,” Kimball said at that time. “The tenants who are living in the new buildings love it there. They love the amenities, they love the way the buildings look, they love the finishes and they love the fact that this is a brand new housing complex.” .
Hauck said, “The Community Builders Inc. is excited to be here with our partner Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers to witness this exciting milestone which would not have been possible without the support of the city, county, state and many others.”
Founded in Boston in 1964 as South End Community Development, The Community Builders has constructed or preserved hundreds of affordable and mixed-income housing developments and owns or manages 13,000 apartment homes in more than 14 states.