A riverfront remade
It would transform a deteriorated and environmentally contaminated industrial sector of Yonkers into a Hudson River mecca of public parks and plazas, marinas and boat launches, apartment buildings and townhouses, neighborhood retail stores and restaurants linked by a waterfront esplanade.
It would generate about $32 million in annual tax revenues for the city of Yonkers in an industrial zone that now generates less than $1.4 million in property taxes for the city.
It would bring about $65 million in retail sales from more than 9,000 residents moving into the rezoned waterfront area and its 3,700 housing units.
It would create about 1,600 permanent jobs on the transformed waterfront, about 600 more than the number that would be displaced in industries now there.
It would bring about $2.3 billion of construction to Yonkers by developers who could benefit from tax credits for brownfield cleanups there.
That was the vision and master plan for Alexander Street unveiled at City Hall last week by Yonkers officials.
“This is the future of the city and the downtown,” said Mayor Philip Amicone, introducing his administration”™s plan to turn a 1.25-mile-long stretch of riverfront and about 153 acres of land and underwater parcels into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood that would open public access to the river. Bounded by the downtown Yonkers Metro-North train station to the south and the Glenwood train station to the north, development in the Alexander Street planning area would represent the urban trend toward “smart growth” near mass transit, the mayor and planners said.
“We will be doing major development downtown in this Alexander Street corridor because the majority of the people want it,” said Amicone. The mayor predicted, though, that proposed building heights on the waterfront will be a key issue during the approvals process and a 60-day public comment period that began last week.
A guide and outline for a remade waterfront that will be converted to architectural designs, bricks and mortar and greenery by private developers, the Alexander Street master plan was presented last week to the Yonkers Community Development Agency, whose chairman is Amicone. The mayor said he hopes to have the plan approved by city, county, state and federal agencies by the middle of 2008.
“What we cannot afford to do is wait so long that the economy that makes this happens goes away,” said Amicone. “We don”™t know when it might come back ”“ certainly not in our lifetime.”
The Alexander Street waterfront area lies just north of the city”™s Recreation Pier and the Hudson Park luxury-apartment complex being developed by Collins Enterprises L.L.C. The planning area is bounded by Wells Avenue on the south and extends north to JFK Marina Park. Most of the area lies west of the Metro-North rail tracks.
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Regarding the two train stations in the corridor, “We see those as phenomenal assets,” said John E. Feingold, vice president at AKRF, the White Plains consulting firm that developed the master plan. “Having this area bracketed by two commuter railroad stations is absolutely a grand slam.”
Feingold said the approximately 20,000-square-foot City Jail on Alexander Street could be linked by a pedestrian bridge to the Metro-North station platform and adapted for retail and restaurant uses.
All but one of 14 properties identified as potential waterfront construction sites are clustered between Point Street on the west and Wells Avenue on the east. The plan calls for 3,752 residential housing units in a mix of  price levels and styles, including townhouses that recreate the look and atmosphere of older city neighborhoods and buildings that range from 12 stories ”“ the maximum height now allowed in the industrial zone, the mayor noted ”“ to 30 stories high. The plan also includes about 210,000 square feet of retail space, which would be occupied by small neighborhood shops, delis and cafes rather than “big-box” stores, and about 213,000 square feet of office space.
Amicone said the city is looking for several private developers to carry out the transformation. “We would rather see four or five projects going at the same time” rather than some developers building in stages.
At least three developers already own parcels within the Alexander Street corridor and have proposed residential and mixed-use developments there. New Jersey-based REMI Companies is looking at a residential development at the Glenwood power station, planners said, while Maryland-based Homes for America has proposed a residential development that would include a marina. Amicone said two or three marinas could be built by marina developers who have already contacted the city.
The city”™s downtown master developer, Struever Fidelco Cappelli L.L.C., owns 10 acres on three parcels in the Alexandria Street area. The master plan proposes development of 765 housing units and 59,500 square feet each of office and retail space and about 1,700 parking spaces on those sites.
The plan would add 13 acres of new park land and open spaces to 31 acres of existing parks in the area. It would extend the city”™s existing riverfront esplanade north to JFK Marina Park and add kayak and canoe access, boat launches and marinas on the river.
Of existing industries in the Alexander Street area west of the Metro-North tracks, only Greyston Bakery would remain, planners said, and businesses east of the railroad also could be displaced by roadway improvements at the Ashburton Avenue and Babcock Place gateway the project. Existing businesses there employ about 1,025 workers.
Amicone said the city is working to relocate two of those businesses, Altman Lighting and Excelsior Packaging, to other locations in the city. The Westchester County Department of Social Services office already is scheduled to relocate in the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to move its Alexander Street bus depot to the Bronx, he said.
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I”™m very concerned that something we want to do could come to a grinding halt with a sudden shift to the economy,” Amicone said. “That”™s why we want to continue building some momentum here so that we can continue to invest here because people who invest here know it”™s a place where they can still make a profit.”
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