194 Yonkers Avenue LLC, which has its address at the offices of The Stagg Group, a development company in the Bronx, is asking Yonkers to allow it to build a bigger building at 182 to 196 Fillmore St. and 180 to 194 Yonkers Ave. Back in April of last year Yonkers approved plans for a 15-story 156-unit affordable apartment building at the site. The developer now wants to modify the project to be a 13-story building with 350 apartments with 444 parking spaces.
The developer has told Yonkers that it has purchased seven more lots to add to the 11 it owned when the original plan was approved. It said that the revised building would contain 70 studio apartments, 140 one-bedroom units, 105 two-bedroom units and 35 three-bedroom units. The project would be 100% affordable for people earning between 50% and 60% of the Area Median Income.
The developer said there would be four floors of parking utilizing the sub-sub cellar to first floor. The building would have tenant amenities such as a laundry room and community room. There will be landscaping within the property lines, which will include some trees and planting beds, according to the developer. The main entrance would be on Fillmore Street, where there also would be access to the parking garage. The Con Edison utilities on Fillmore Street would be relocated.
The Westchester County Planning Board was asked to review and comment on the plan for the 1.36-acre site. Planning Board Chairman Richard Hyman, in providing comments to Yonkers about the proposal, noted that the site contained six residential buildings that are to be demolished.
“The site lies between a high-density affordable apartment building to the east, and smaller-scale residential buildings to the west and south,” Hyman wrote. “Across Yonkers Avenue to the north are smaller commercial and mixed-used buildings at the intersection with Ashburton Avenue. We appreciate that the development would provide much needed affordable housing in the county. However, we are concerned that this fully-affordable building will be located next door to the existing Parkledge fully-affordable housing building at 220 Yonkers Avenue. We note that a principle of the County’s AFFH Model Ordinance Provisions is to ensure a mix of income levels within all neighborhoods in order to avoid the negative outcomes that clustering lower-income residents often yields, such as disinvestment, lack of access and opportunity, and segregation.”
Hyman stated that the county’s Planning Board recommends that the applicant establish a full pedestrian entrance to the building along the Yonkers Avenue frontage.
“Such an entrance would provide direct access for residents to the businesses along Yonkers Avenue, as well as serve as a visual break from the monolithic massing that would front the street,” Hyman said.
In addition to seeing approval for the revised site plan from the Yonkers Planning Board, the developer is asking the Zoning Board of Appeals for required variances.
