Extell revives plans for 1,395-unit apartment complex in Yonkers

Plans have been revived to build a previously approved 1,395-unit luxury rental apartment complex in downtown Yonkers in a series of phases over the next decade.

Proposed by Manhattan-based Extell Development Co., the six-building development with 51,800-square-feet of commercial space would be on 22 waterfront acres adjacent to the MTA bus depot. The complex would stretch from the former British International Cable Corp. property at 1 Point St. to the Excelsior Packaging plant at 159 Alexander St. at its southern tip.

The development plans include five seven-story buildings and a single 22-story tower at the north end of the site. The five smaller buildings would house five stories of residential apartments over a two-story podium with parking and commercial space.

In the first phase of the three-phase project, the company would redevelop a portion of the southern end of the site to accommodate two buildings totaling 670,135 square feet with 513 residential units and 14,300 square feet of commercial space. A second phase includes two 501-unit buildings totaling 560,120 square feet and 19,400 square feet for commercial tenants.

The company would then build the 22-story, 541,473-square-foot tower on the northern part of the site that is now home to the “Blue Cube,” a 10-story, 30,000-square-foot former industrial laboratory 1 Point St. The proposed 277-unit tower would also feature 7,100 square feet of commercial space. A final 115,370-square-foot building housing 103 units and 1,100 square feet of commercial space would also be constructed during the final phase.

Mark Weingarten of DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr, the White Plains law firm representing Extell Development, said that the development would be built in phases to meet tenant demand, rather than speculative building.

“We won”™t be building empty buildings. We”™re not building these buildings until the market shows up,” Weingarten said.

The redevelopment, situated within the Alexander Street urban renewal area, would include 1,395 residential parking spaces, 284 spaces for commercial uses and 252 public spaces, along with 8 acres of open space and 4 acres of private rooftop gardens.

The buildings would be lined with a mixture of townhouses, neighborhood retail and building services. The transit-oriented development is less than a half-mile from the Yonkers Metro-North Railroad station and just north of a planned 609-unit complex by developer AvalonBay.

In 2011, the property was approved by the Yonkers Planning Board for a similar project proposed by a development team headed by Ron Shemesh, owner and CEO of Excelsior Packaging Group. In the new plan, total commercial space has been trimmed from the previously proposed 85,000 square feet of commercial space and all underground parking has been eliminated. The former proposal also included two 30-story towers and four six-story buildings. That development was delayed due to an extensive environmental remediation program, which was completed in August.

For the project to move forward, both the planning board and the city council must approve a special permit for the project. Weingarten said that while timetables are still up in the air, he hopes to have all approvals from the city by spring or summer of next year.

Extell is a developer of residential, commercial, retail, hospitality and mixed-use properties primarily in Manhattan. Extell”™s more than 20 million-square-foot portfolio includes ONE57, a 90-story building on West 57th Street, according to the company”™s website.

Extell did not respond to requests for comment at press time.