Peekskill is a city on the move, seeking to maintain a balance between a small-town feel and the urbanization that can come from development, while being unafraid to openly address serious incidents such as the arrest of a police officer, according to what the Business Journal was told during a session with the city’s mayor, city manager and economic development specialist.
Peekskill police officer Michael Agovino was arrested on Feb. 15 after a woman accused him of demanding sexual favors while in uniform and investigating allegations against her involving larceny. He was charged with sexual abuse, stalking and burglary. He appeared in Peekskill City Court on Feb. 18 and pleaded not guilty. He was released on $100,000 bond. He was placed on administrative leave from the police department.
Mayor Andre Rainey and Police Chief Donald Halmy addressed the Peekskill Common Council that night and pledged diligence and transparency in addition to cooperation with the district attorney’s office.
“Allegations such as these tend to destroy such respect and trust of our officers in blue. Please understand we are investigating this matter to our fullest ability.” Halmy said in his statement.
Rainey told the Business Journal, “The idea is to show people how we handle these issues, how we overcome these challenges, what steps do we take. You can’t prevent everything negative from happening but what you can show people is how you respond. Once it’s resolved and settled it brings us back to where we’re supposed to be.”
A message Rainey has been working to get out about Peekskill is that it’s a city open for business and its school district is improving.
“We work with our developers,” Rainey said.
Much of the direct work with developers now falls to Andrew Stewart, who succeeded Richard Leins as city manager in January. Stewart served three terms from 2012 to 2017 as the town supervisor of the town of Orangetown in Rockland County. Among the projects he tackled there was the redevelopment of the vacant Rockland Psychiatric Center into a new JPMorgan Chase data center.
Stewart told the Business Journal that Peekskill is well-situated on the Metro-North Hudson Line about an hour out of Grand Central Terminal, has Hudson River waterfront and good road access.
“Being commutable to New York City but being a small town with very easy access to the mid-Hudson Valley with all the amenities, the outdoor recreation, wineries and breweries, and then when you add the amenities right here in the city ”” you’ve got the Paramount Theater, you’ve got an amazing waterfront park, you’ve got a lot of great restaurants, a lot of cultural diversity ”” that adds to the attractiveness,” Stewart said.
Peekskill has been attracting some new development, though not of the scale seen in other Westchester cities such as White Plains and New Rochelle where projects containing 24 or more stories with hundreds of residential units are increasingly common.
Ginsburg Development Companies’ Fort Hill Apartments in Peekskill is a $64.5 million project containing 178 residential units, a 42-room inn with a spa, event hall and restaurant with outdoor dining offering a view of the Hudson.
A mixed-use project at 1 Park Place is scheduled for completion later this year with 181 residential units and street-level retail. A two-building project, the Magnolia Heights Apartments at 653 Central Ave. and 582 South St., was proposed in January. It would have 167 apartments, 3,500 square feet of retail and 206 parking spaces.
“It’s not a free-for-all. It’s not the Wild West. Project developers and investors will come in and work with the city within the vision of our community and not try to impose something foreign on it,” Stewart said.
Matt Rudikoff, the city’s economic development specialist, draws upon 22 years of experience as head of a planning and environment consulting firm, Matthew D. Rudikoff Associates. He said the city’s selection for a $10 million state grant as part of the Downtown Redevelopment Initiative (DRI) program will have benefits not only in the funding of projects for the downtown but also in shaping the city’s image as a place developers and business operators will want to be.
“In the world of economic development and in the world of grantsmanship what happens is once you start getting grants and you start implementing them successfully, more and more grants start coming because the agencies want to see their prior investments come together and fill the gaps of what needs to be done,” Rudikoff said. He predicted Peekskill will be a place where “you’re going to be able to see the effect of public-sector investment in communities.”
A planning process has been underway to determine which projects the DRI grant will be used to fund. Speculation is that the Paramount Theater, the city’s waterfront, an art center project and streetscape and parking projects are likely to receive funding.
Rainey said in 2019 the city received $16 million in state grants. In January, it announced new grants from the state of more than $3 million, part of which will help fund reconstruction of the Fleischmann Pier on the waterfront.
“We have entertainment on the riverfront now. The Fleischmann Pier is going to enhance that. We anticipate that people will have weddings on ships and get off the ship and walk down to the train station and maybe just make it to the downtown,” Rainey said.
When the DRI grant was originally announced, a suggestion was made that the pier could be developed into a facility capable of handling Hudson River tour boats, thus making the city a destination via river and opening up a new tourism industry.
Stewart believes when the 2020 census is complete it will show Peekskill’s population has topped 25,000. The 2010 census showed the population as 23,583. The census showed it had 9,709 housing units. A 2012 survey reported by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the city had 2,172 companies.
