The first building in Extell Development”™s $585 million Hudson Piers mixed-use project along the Yonkers waterfront on a 17.4-acre parcel between Alexander Street and the Hudson River may be ready for occupancy toward the end of 2023, the Business Journal has learned. Executives from Extell Development Company joined Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano and other city, county and state officials on the afternoon of May 5 at the construction site for a groundbreaking ceremony.
The site is bounded by the river and Alexander Street, Water Grant Street and Babcock Place. Some site work has been underway and the groundbreaking ceremony was held to mark the start of above-ground construction. The project has been described as creating approximately 1,400 luxury and affordable apartments along with retail space and a new riverfront esplanade with views up and down the Hudson River and across to the Palisades.
“Extell”™s Hudson Piers will be one of the most transformative developments along the Yonkers waterfront,” said Spano said. “It will cap off the extraordinary momentum seen in recent years that”™s spurred unprecedented investment in our city.”
Gary Barnett, founder and chairman of Extell, said the project “is going to create dozens of jobs, long-term well-paying jobs besides all of the construction jobs.” He recalled that the first waterfront project in which Extell was involved was about 17 years ago “when we bought Riverside South in the 60s and 70s along the Hudson waterfront from Donald Trump and a Chinese group.”
Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins said, “As a hometown Yonkers guy I am so super excited to see this kind of transformative project here in Yonkers.”
The project, which will be developed in three phases over a six-year period, is expected to create 200 permanent jobs and 450 to 500 construction jobs. It will provide approximately 870,000 rentable square feet of residential space across a half-dozen buildings, each seven stories, with more than 37,000 rentable square feet of ground floor retail space.
Hudson Piers will offer a mix of residential units ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. Outdoor amenities include waterfront recreation terraces with hammocks, fire pits, grilling stations, sundecks, billiards, putting greens, bocce courts and an outdoor swimming pool. Indoor amenities will include multiple fitness centers, lounges, playrooms, a catering kitchen, basketball gym, screening room, game room, teen rooms, business and conference center and a 24-hour attended lobby. A total of 1,028 covered parking spaces will be provided on the first two floors of the buildings, with an additional 212 on-grade spaces, for a total of 1,240 parking spaces. Each of the buildings will have their own package, storage and bicycle rooms. Shuttle service will be provided for residents to and from the Yonkers Metro-North train station.
The development will feature 1.5 acres of new public parkland as well as a 1.5-mile-long esplanade extension that will adjoin to the existing public waterfront promenade. Plans also call for the construction of a new elevated roadway to be named Riverside Drive, which will be deeded back to the city.
The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency (YIDA) provided the Hudson Piers project a 20-year PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) and a 100% abatement on taxes for improvements. It is the largest residential project to receive financial incentives from the YIDA.
Extell, which was founded in 1989, is known for its developments in Manhattan and Brooklyn and outside of the New York area in places such as Boston, Vail, Colorado, and Park City, Utah.
