The project to redevelop the former General Motors North Tarrytown manufacturing site in Sleepy Hollow took another step forward on June 23 with the topping out of the building NorthLight at Edge-on-Hudson.
Although no final beam was lifted into place for the ceremony, an American flag was flying on top of the building.
Edge-on-Hudson is an estimated $1 billion project on a 70-acre site on the Hudson River just northeast of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. There are three major neighborhoods in the development. A few residents have already moved into some of the units being built by Toll Brothers in Edge-on-Hudson.
Edge-on-Hudson is due to have 1,177 housing units, a 140-room hotel, 135,000 square feet of retail space, including a DeCicco”™s supermarket, 35,000 square feet of office space and more than 16 acres of parkland. It also serves to once again open up access to the Sleepy Hollow waterfront.
Lead developers of the property are Biddle Real Estate Ventures and PCD Development LLC. The site was acquired in 2013 for $39.5 million.
As far back as the late 1890s the site had been used for automobile manufacturing, including the steam-powered Stanley Steamer, eventually yielding to the gas-powered Maxwell. Chevrolet began building cars on the site and in 1918 when General Motors bought Chevrolet it wound up owning the plant. During World War II, GM produced aircraft components in the plant. In all, it”™s estimated that about 12 million GM vehicles rolled off the North Tarrytown assembly line until 1996 when the plant was shuttered.
The developer of NorthLight is Hines, a real estate development and investment firm that has more than 180 projects underway around the world. The firm reports having developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,450 properties totaling more than 485 million square feet. It values its portfolio of assets under management at approximately $160.9 billion.
NorthLight is to have 246 units in a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. The connected parking garage will have 427 spaces. Among the amenities are a 17,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard with swimming pool, firepits, lounge areas, fitness center, pet spa and playroom for children.
“My greatest hope is that the work we do here allows us to do more in Sleepy Hollow,” Tommy Craig, senior managing director of Hines told well-wishers gathered under a tent across from the NorthLight site.
“This inspires us. The idea of a community where people can live that”™s pedestrian oriented, that is based on an authentic relationship to nature … that inspires us deeply in our work and we would like to think that somehow the effort here just leaves this little corner a little bit better than we found it.”
Craig termed it a privilege for Hines to be able to do developments such as NorthLight.
Sean Sacks, managing director of Hines, said Hines has 20,000 residential units in its portfolio and NorthLight is the first of its projects to have a solar roof.
“Up to 30% of our residents will have the ability to have an EV (electric vehicle) charger so we know that”™s the future of sustainability and we”™re proud to be achieving that sort of milestone with this project,” Sacks said, noting the building has been designed to meet LEED Silver standards. “This project is really pushing the boundaries of what”™s possible for a residential community.”
Sacks said that this is the second project Hines has done in the northeast with MetLife Investment Management and Santander Bank. Santander and Provident Bank provided construction financing for the project.
Michael Miller, senior construction director for Hines, said that compared with groundbreakings and ribbon-cuttings, topping out ceremonies are not appreciated as they should be. He said a topping out provides a chance to honor the construction workers.
“There are 200 men and women on the site that we also have to celebrate,” Miller said, noting that the total number of tradespeople who worked on the project at one time or another actually would be more like 600.
“They”™re the ones who take the vision and they are the executors. They”™ve taken the skillsets that we have here locally, put them to work and are going to create an excellent building,” Miller said.
“I applaud everyone here for your vision. I applaud those who execute in the trailer every day and keep us on track, on budget and I also applaud the tradespeople that are here, the men and women that make it happen every day to build an excellent product for this municipality.”
Leasing and opening of the NorthLight”™s first units is expected in the first quarter of next year with project completion expected in next year”™s third quarter.
If our Hudson River waterfronts are paved over with cement and steel then what is the attraction? And what is the economic value for the region, county and inland towns without open space and waterfront access for all? So we can look across the Hudson to see other steel and glass buildings? John and Abby Rockefeller preserved the Palisades from development along with thousands of acres locally and beyond. They have to be so sad to see this. The Irvington waterfront remains the only waterfront with open space and parkland. And that increases the real estate values, earnings and tax base for all inland. Pete Seeger and the Clearwater can sail up the Hudson to see a sea of steel and glass. Sad. As Joni Mitchell sang, “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”.