The announcement last week that AMS Acquisitions has purchased the downtown property at 55 Buena Vista Ave., known as the Teutonia Hall property, for $18.3 million, is good news for the city and its continued renaissance downtown.
In a statement, AMS Acquisitions announced that it will build a 24-story, 361-unit luxury rental tower at the Teutonia Hall site.
“Downtown Yonkers is in the midst of a renaissance,” said Michael Mitnick, a principal at AMS Acquisitions. “AMS is invested heavily in the growth and expansion of this incredible and unique market.”
AMS had undergone a “shopping spree” of buying properties in downtown Yonkers. In addition to Teutonia Hall, the company announced last month that it is purchasing the Chicken Island parking lot from the city for $16 million. Earlier this year, it purchased 86 Main St. for $9.5 million, and 92 Main St.
AMS’s purchase of the Teutonia Hall property, which has remained a vacant lot for two years after a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Brownfields Program and cleanup was completed, means that another piece to the downtown Yonkers waterfront redevelopment can move forward.
AMS is proposing the same size apartment building as the prior owners and developers, DW Capital and Kohl Construction – 24 stories, 361 units and a three-story parking lot. The site is the former location of Teutonia Hall, an 1892 German-American music and literary venue. Original plans called for the façade for the old Teutonia Hall building to be preserve and restored; whether that continues with the new developer is unclear.
So, who is the latest, largest buyer of downtown Yonkers real estate? Its website says that AMS Acquisitions, LLC, is a real estate investment firm which focuses on the acquisition and development of retail, residential and office properties in the New York-metropolitan area. Since forming in 2012, AMS has built a portfolio of approximately 2 million square feet throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which consists of an estimated $1 billion in total capitalization in the most sought-after neighborhoods of New York City.
AMS acquires premier properties in dense urban areas, where demand is strong and supply is constrained, and focuses on neighborhoods it believes are going to experience development and growth.
Properties in the AMS portfolio outside of Yonkers include mixed-use and office space properties in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as Bayonne, N.J., and Bridgeport and Hartford, Conn.
The City of Yonkers had already approved a previous developer’s plans for site in 2013, which called for a 25-story apartment tower with 361 apartments.
Previous owners include Teutonia Buena Vista, LLC, which reportedly excavated more than 20,000 pounds of soil to remediate the former Brownfield site; Kohl construction; and MetroPartners, which also owned 92 Main St., a combination of live-work lofts and retail properties that AMS now owns.
All three AMS properties – at 86 Main St., 92 Main St. and Teutonia Hall – are within one block of each other and sit next to the Yonkers pier and Yonkers Train Station.
The recent AMS purchase of Chicken Island will require City Council approval before it can move forward. Once that happens, AMS will have invested more than $40 million in downtown Yonkers properties in the last year.
“An abundance of culture, diversity and history, combined with a beautiful natural landscape and robust development is fueling the success of this city,” said Avi Abadie, a principal at AMS Acquisitions. “We believe these sites are some of best locations in downtown Yonkers.”
The acquisitions by AMS are similar to those made by Rising Development and its former Principal Nick Sprayregen 10 years ago. Their assembled properties are currently under construction next to Van der Donck Park and the Saw Mill River through RXR Realty.
