Peekskill, Ginsburg dust off plans for former convent

Plans for a former convent and Revolutionary War lookout in Peekskill are on the city docket again after a tumultuous history of redevelopment proposals.

Known as St. Mary”™s Convent, the building dates to the late 19th century and has seen numerous development plans fall through over the last 12 years.

But with some urging from Peekskill Mayor Frank Catalina, Martin Ginsburg, president of Ginsburg Development Cos. LLC, has plans to turn the former abbey into a spa, inn and restaurant. Ginsburg, who bought the property in 2003, also wants to develop 178 apartments in three buildings on the property as well as 20 townhouses on Main Street. The project is estimated to cost about $50 million.

Catalina said he called Ginsburg in November 2013 shortly after he was elected mayor and asked him to dust off his plans for the convent.

“We had backburnered this because we had our difficulty previously,” Ginsburg said, referring to issues with the Common Council and the Great Recession taking a toll on property developments. “I didn”™t necessarily want to revisit,” but, he added, “The current mayor has definitely been a strong supporter, and we had a meeting with the Common Council and I think we had very unanimous support for this.”

Ginsburg Development has submitted a conceptual plan to the city and presented those designs to the council on June 15.

One of the early challenges will be the one-way road that leads to the convent property will likely need to be expanded into a two-way road. There is also discussion about changing the name of Spring Street to reflect the name of the project, which will be referred to as Fort Hill.

Fort Hill will have 178 luxury apartments spread out over three new buildings. Ginsburg estimated the apartments will be an average of 1,000 square feet and the architecture will be comparable to the historic look of the existing buildings.

There will also be 20 townhouses on Main Street, between Spring and Hadden streets, referred to as the Gateway residences.

The idea for the development, Ginsburg said, is a “combination of promoting tourism and bringing people in a higher income category into the downtown area.”

While the Fort Hill and Gateway developments would occupy abut 4 to 5 acres, Ginsburg also has plans to make walking trails in the park area of the property and may create a viewing tower.

“The idea of creating a local destination place may help promote the idea of tourism,” he said.

While commercial development in Peekskill has been slow in recent years, Catalina said, he believes the project will be one of many in the years to come.

“We can have smart, intelligent growth and still maintain the small-town charm and character of the city,” he said.