Mount Vernon, which has long harbored plans to redevelop its downtown area by the Metro-North Mount Vernon East train station, is promising that those plans are closer to reality than ever before.
The city scheduled a press conference recently to unveil preliminary proposals to redevelop the area by two developers, Leyland Alliance L.L.C. and Mountco Development Corp.
“There have been starts and stops before, but this is the real deal,” said Mount Vernon Mayor Ernest Davis. Davis, up for re-election, will face Westchester County Legislator Clinton Young in a Democratic primary in September.
The “stops and starts” consist of several proposed plans made for redevelopment of the area since Davis took office over a decade ago.
But Davis insisted the plan for the city”™s downtown renaissance is now only a matter of when, not if.
“The whole downtown area will be changed,” he said.
The two developers were chosen from among several that had been making presentations to the mayor and City Council in private. (As reported in the Business Journal June 11.)
But Davis announced that two public hearings will take place on the proposals, on July 29 and August 9, though he said the hour and place had yet to be determined.
Steve Maun, president of Leyland Alliance, said his company”™s initial proposal included 1,500 housing units, 150,000 square feet of commercial space and a hotel. He estimated the cost for the project at $500 million.
He said the project speaks to a larger trend over the last 10 years or so where, “people are slowly moving back into city and town centers.”
Robert Orr, the architect working with Leyland on the proposal, stressed the importance of public input on the project.
“Right now it”™s a vision, but there is a long way to go before it”™s a project,” he said.
He said ideally, the redeveloped residential portion area would be a “mixed-income” area.
John Madeo, vice president of Mount Vernon-based Mountco, said the developer would work with Grace Community Development Corp. of Grace Church and Centerline Capital Group, an investment firm.
Mountco has built projects in the city at a cost of nearly $40 million, Madeo said. The proposal as envisioned by Mountco would be in the $300 million to $500 million range and include up to 450 housing units and retail commercial space.
Both proposals also feature a long-discussed hotel in the area.
“These plans will get better because of public input,” said Madeo.
Davis said the projects would be funded by a public-private partnership, though he didn”™t specifically say what that partnership would be.
He did say he planned to go to Albany in the next week and meet with the “financial people” for Gov. Eliot Spitzer to discuss a possible state financing plan.
While this is happening, the U.S. attorney”™s office is conducting an investigation into the city Urban Renewal Agency. The agency”™s main function is to promote development in the city.
Allegedly, the agency couldn”™t pay $1.2 million in health insurance premiums to the state health insurance program for its employees.
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