Amphitheater to rise on Yonkers waterfront
Yonkers and Westchester County officials recently broke ground on a 450-seat amphitheater at Trevor Park at the northern end of the city”™s Hudson River waterfront. The hillside performance space, overlooking JFK Marina and the Hudson River Palisades, is expected to open in June 2012.
The $7.5 million construction project, which also includes a public parking garage, is funded by the county through its Yonkers waterfront capital project. The county will spend an additional $1 million for a pedestrian connection linking the city marina and amphitheater to the nearby Metro-North Railroad Glenwood station.
The pedestrian link will be part of the county”™s Westchester RiverWalk, a planned 51.5-mile path that will open the entire length of the Hudson waterfront in the county to public access. The trailway is funded by the county”™s Legacy Program, which dedicates capital monies to acquire and improve parks and open space throughout Westchester.
Officials said construction on the RiverWalk segment will begin next spring and take nine to 12 months.
Speaking at a ceremonial groundbreaking at the amphitheater site, County Executive Robert P. Astorino said the project will create an estimated 82 construction jobs and the new performance venue will give an economic boost to the region. He called it “money well-spent.”
Yonkers Mayor Philip Amicone in a statement accompanying the ceremony said the city already has made significant progress toward the goal it shares with the county to create a continuous public park along the Hudson. He said the RiverWalk project will help revitalize more than one-half mile of Yonkers waterfront and connect it to northern and southern access points.
“And right in the middle of it will be one of the most beautiful and dramatic performance spaces in the Hudson Valley,” said Amicone.
Accounting firms combine practices
The Westchester-based accounting firm O”™Connor Davies Munns and Dobbins L.L.P. has combined practices with PKF L.L.P., a New York City-based accounting firm. The new company is PKF O”™Connor Davies L.L.P.
PKF is a member of PKF International Ltd., a network of independent accounting, auditing, tax and business advisory firms in more than 250 cities worldwide.
Founded in 1891, O”™Connor Davies has been one of the largest accounting and consulting firms in the tristate region and employs more than 200 professionals. Headquartered at 500 Mamaroneck Ave. in Harrison, it also has offices in Manhattan, New Windsor, Stamford, Conn., and Paramus, N.J.
Hollywood Theaters taps PepsiCo
Purchase-based PepsiCo Inc. through its Somers-based Pepsi Beverages Co. will be the exclusive beverage provider at all 45 locations nationwide operated by Hollywood Theaters Holdings Inc.
Officials at PepsiCo and the theater company based in Portland, Ore., said the multi-year partnership begins this month. A range of PepsiCo products will be sold.
PepsiCo”™s new partner is a portfolio company of GTCR Golder Rauner L.L.C. that operates in 16 states and is the seventh-largest theater circuit in the nation. Its deal with PepsiCo ended a 31-year partnership with the Coca-Cola Co.
“With 545 screens and millions of annual visitors, Hollywood Theaters is one of the largest players in the theater industry and we look forward to growing with them,” Tom Bené, president of PepsiCo Foodservice, said in a press release.
Pepsi Beverages Co. handles approximately 75 percent of PepsiCo”™s North America beverage volume.
