A contractor is ready to break ground this month in downtown Yonkers on a city project to uncover the Saw Mill River at Larkin Plaza nearly nine decades after the Hudson River tributary was channeled underground.
The daylighting project will transform the plaza”™s surface undefined”parking lot and two small public parks into a river-centered urban park that attracts both tourists and riparian wildlife. Business owners and city officials expect it to enhance surrounding property values and spur economic redevelopment downtown.
The hold-up: money. ELQ Industries Inc., the New Rochelle company awarded a $16.8-million contract for the daylighting work, cannot proceed until the city has secured funding for the project.
Though the city in 2006 was awarded a $24-million New Economic Development Capital Program grant through the state Dormitory Authority, those funds have not yet been received. James Pinto, director of the city Office of Downtown and Waterfront Development, said the city has asked the state agency to release $8 million of the total grant to allow daylighting work to begin.
In a separate, second phase of the Saw Mill River project, the city plans to use part of the Dormitory Authority grant to acquire 18 downtown commercial and residential properties at the site of River Park Center, the mixed-use development planned near Getty Square by Struever Fidelco Cappelli L.L.C. The city”™s New Main Street Development Corp., headed by Pinto, and the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency are newly appraising the properties before making purchase offers to owners. The Yonkers IDA plans to use eminent domain if needed to acquire the parcels.
At Larkin Plaza, Pinto said the city also plans to use $3.5 million of a $10-million grant already received from the state Empire State Development Corp. He said city officials are awaiting word on their request for an $8.3-million grant from the state Department of Environmental Conservation for the daylighting work.
The Yonkers City Council this month is reviewing Mayor Philip Amicone”™s proposed $94-million capital improvement plan that includes $13.2 million for the Larkin Plaza project. The council last year cut $12.5 million marked for the daylighting project from the mayor”™s proposed capital spending plan.
The city council last month approved construction of an approximately 300-space parking garage north of Larkin Plaza to replace the 144-space lot that will be removed as the river is uncovered.
Pinto said Larkin Plaza is expected to support about 1,000 jobs after the riverwalk is completed and the Saw Mill in its downtown course becomes a part of the city”™s revitalized Hudson River waterfront. “That”™s going to be a very big generator of economic development,” he said.
