Ginsburg Development Cos. plans to spend $3 million to acquire a 2.26-acre vacant property near the Ludlow train station owned by the city of Yonkers. Ginsburg plans to build hundreds of apartments on the site at 150 Downing St., along with commercial space.
But that parcel is just one piece of a sprawling development Ginsburg has planned for the area in southwest Yonkers that stretches from Pier Street to Highland Avenue.
In a presentation submitted to the city, Ginsburg officials said the Downing Street parcel, when combined with the acquisition of other “blighted nearby light-industrial properties” that sit within a quarter-mile radius of the Ludlow train station, could be home to a mixed-use, transit-oriented development.
The company has proposed the construction of four apartment towers with approximately 550 units and two floors of commercial space at the 150 Downing St. property.
The Valhalla-based company also aims to complete improvements to O’Boyle Park, including the addition of dog runs, new fencing and park benches, enhanced landscaping and new pedestrian and bike paths.
Elsewhere, Ginsburg Development plans to upgrade Abe Cohen Plaza and construct a four-story, mixed-use building at 70 Pier St., a property the developer purchased for $1.3 million earlier this year. That building would include 45 residential units and 3,600-square-feet of retail space.
Additionally, the company proposed new parkland and open space along the Hudson River and other residential development and streetscape improvements along Ludlow Street.
“Over 40,000 residents live within southwest Yonkers, and they have no waterfront access to the Hudson River,” Ginsburg officials said in the documents submitted to the city. “Downtown Yonkers should not be the closest point of access to the river for those who live in the southwest quadrant of the city.”
Ginsburg Development was one of two respondents to the city’s request for proposals for the Downing Street property, which the city previously used as a storage facility for its public works department.
Prior to the city’s ownership, energy company Consolidated Edison, Inc. used the land as a manufactured gas plant, during which time the site was contaminated. The electric company plans to conduct a cleanup of the polluted site, a job that must be completed before development may begin.
Earlier this month, the city’s real estate committee referred the issue of the property’s conveyance to Ginsburg Development to the city council. However, at the council’s meeting on Oct. 10, the matter was referred back to the real estate committee.
“There’s been some back and forth among the council members in regard to this issue,” said council president Liam J. McLaughlin.
McLaughlin added that members of the council had received some feedback from members of the community who “weren’t quite comfortable with the project yet.”
“We felt that there was a need for further meetings to make sure that everyone is on the same page as to what’s being proposed and what they’re looking to do down in that area,” McLaughlin said.
As part of the area’s redevelopment, the city plans to undertake a comprehensive rezoning of the property surrounding the Ludlow train station, which is largely zoned for industrial use.
“We will be looking holisticly at that quarter of the city to try to find something that is attractive and also something that obviously reflects the input of the residents that live down there presently,” said Michael V. Curti, the city’s corporation counsel.
Curti added that the conveyance of the Downing Street property is just the “first step of a long process.”
“We are honestly looking at the kinds of things that were successful in downtown, creating another transit-oriented (area) where residences, commercial uses can work together,” said Lee Ellman, the city’s director of the planning bureau.
The city also plans to complete a traffic study for the 80-acre area surrounding the Ludlow train station.
“We’re looking forward to this,” Ellman said. “This is, just as with the downtown, one of those obvious, necessary, exciting places to do some work in the city.”
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