With its sweeping views of the Palisades and convenient location along both the Hudson River and the village”™s main commuter hub, Marie McKellar always saw Dobbs Ferry”™s Waterfront Park as an underappreciated gem.
That”™s why in 2007, McKellar, the former chairperson of the math department at Mercy College, decided to donate $1 million toward what would eventually become a $7 million project to help breathe new life into the 7.5-acre park that had slowly deteriorated from years of erosion and neglect. The outer edges of the park were expected to eventually sink into the Hudson.
After eight years of fundraising, hair-splitting meetings and construction, the park is set to be reintroduced at a rededication ceremony June 13. New additions to the park will include chess tables, picnic tables, a performing stage, new playgrounds and new bathrooms. Plans also include new riverwalk pathways, a fishing pier and a kayak launch for boaters.
- Dobbs Ferry”™s redeveloped Waterfront Park is expected to reopen by mid-June.
“It was clear nothing was going to be done,” McKellar said. “It felt like such a shame we couldn”™t use this beautiful site.”
Though the project was completed as part of the county”™s proposed 51-mile Riverwalk project along the Hudson River, it also means more potential customers for an already-thriving waterfront restaurant business in Dobbs Ferry.
Half Moon, an American restaurant popular among area residents for its brunch and dinner menu, sits on the southern end of the waterfront park. New benches have been installed on the beach area adjacent to the eatery.
Hudson Social, an American restaurant and bar, opened in December in the Dobbs Ferry Metro-North train station across from the park. For those with an appetite, the restaurant serves salads, paninis and other signature grilled sandwiches. For those embarking on happy hour or a boozy brunch, Hudson Social has both an indoor and outdoor bar with views of the Hudson.
Because the building is owned by the village, the restaurant pays its monthly rent to Dobbs Ferry. In the lease, Village Administrator Marcus Serrano said, the restaurant also agreed to allow commuters waiting for trains to remain inside without being required to order food.
Serrano, a leading public official for the park project along with the village”™s waterfront committee, said boaters and fisherman taking advantage of the new recreational accommodations could prove to be customers not only of the two restaurants along the river, but also those on nearby Main and Cedar streets.
“Half Moon is already popular and always packed,” Serrano said. “Now we”™ve got Hudson Social, so people have a lot of choices when they come to Dobbs Ferry.”
As of Memorial Day, garbage bags full of trash were still visible and fences were still up around the property, but Serrano said he expects the project to be completed by June 13. He said it would have to be, not only for the rededication ceremony but also for the Dobbs Ferry High School graduation that will be held there a week later.
In 2008, the village formed the waterfront committee to handle the the logistics behind the beautification of the property, including securing state and county funds to make it possible. Construction began in fall 2013, and was initially expected to be completed by last summer, but experienced several setbacks.
Serrano said taxpayers footed roughly $1 million of the total bill, and the rest of the cost was covered by county and state money and private donations.
A Chicago native who lived much of her adult life in Millwood, McKellar did not move to Dobbs Ferry until 2001 but said she had become well-acquainted with the town during her time on the Mercy faculty. As a member of the waterfront committee, she said her biggest hope in the project was a more accessible set of pathways along the water. She now hopes it will attract all area residents to Dobbs Ferry.
“We”™re so happy we could do this,” McKellar said. “This is going to be something beneficial to the whole village.”
