The Greyston Foundation expects to break ground later this year on a $35 million first phase of its work-force housing development planned in downtown Yonkers.
The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency this month approved economic incentives for the Warburton River project at 54-56 Warburton Ave. They include exemptions on the mortgage recording tax and sales and use taxes during construction and a property-tax abatement agreement or PILOT.
Greyston officials plan to move forward with construction of a 12-story, 100,000-square-foot tower with 95 affordable housing units that range in size from studio to three-bedroom apartments. Construction is expected to begin by the end of this year and be completed in about 18 months, IDA officials said.
In the project”™s second phase, a row of historic 19th-century buildings on Warburton Avenue will be renovated for retail and other uses. Greyston”™s renovation costs will be partly offset by the bulk of a $3.5 million Restore New York grant awarded the city last year by the Empire State Development Corp. for the downtown Philipse Manor Historic District.
The Yonkers IDA board also approved incentive packages for three other development projects slated to begin this year in the city.
National Amusements Inc., a Massachusetts-based theater chain, this fall will begin work on its $15 million Quincy Amusements Movie Theater, a 12-screen cinema complex at Ridge Hill, the mixed-use development that Forest City Ratner Cos. expects to open in spring 2011. The 64,644-square-foot theater development is expected to create 10 permanent full-time and 110 part-time jobs and employ about 75 construction workers.
The IDA will offer sales and use tax exemptions for materials and equipment used in construction.
Yonkers Honda will keep 33 jobs in the city and add eight more when it moves its parts and services operation to 500 Yonkers Ave., the former site of Yonkers Avenue Dodge. The car dealership has agreed to a long-term lease at the 120,000-square-foot space. It expects to spend $3.5 million and employ nine construction workers this summer and fall for renovations and facade improvements.
IDA incentives include a sales and use tax and mortgage recording tax exemptions and a PILOT.
Westchester ALP Property L.L.C. expects to break ground later this year on its $24-million Westchester Center for Independent & Assisted Living on the former Jewish Guild for the Blind campus at 78 Stratton St. South.
The vacant property”™s new owner will convert two buildings totaling approximately 105,500 square feet into a 141-unit affordable housing complex for low-income senior citizens. The project is expected to create 75 permanent jobs and about 20 construction jobs. A 2011 opening is planned.
Mayor Philip A. Amicone, chairman of the Yonkers IDA, in a prepared statement called movement on the four projects in spite of the slow economy “a tremendous vote of confidence in this city and its business-friendly policies” and evidence that “the Yonkers renaissance remains on track.”
