By Dan Murphy
The Alexander Street corridor, a 50+ arce swath of riverfront property located in between the Yonkers Train Station and the Glenwood train station, have laid empty, dormant underutilized for decades.
Under the leadership of Mayor Mike Spano, and through incentives from the Yonkers IDA, several development projects along Alexander Street totaling more than $700 Million. The latest project announcement is at 57 Alexander Street, where Rose Associates of Manhattan, will build a 440-unit, seven story residential building.
A waterfront walkway, a half-acre park on the Hudson with seating, landscaping, and unobstructed views of the Palisades. 10% of the units will be affordable and most units will be studios and 1-bedroom units. 443 parking spaces will also be built, and the IDA approves incentives for the project last year. Construction will begin this year and will be completed in 2022, at a total cost of $177 Million.
The current 6+ acre property currently houses warehouses and storage buildings, and was purchased by Rose Associates for $23 Million, from the Altman family that has owned the property for a generation, and its company, Altman Stage Lighting Co has used the warehouse at 57 Alexander Street. Rose Associates recently secured financing for the project
When combined with other recent announcements, along Alexander Street and nearby, Yonkers is now achieving the developers, and real estate financing, that it has sought for 20 years. Next to 57 Alexander Street will be Lionsgate’s new $100 million studio, announced last year. And nearby on the waterfront is Extell Development’s $500 million residential development project
Mayor Mike Spano recently commented on the development boom along Hudson Riverfront and how the IDA has helped spur that development. . “With more than $3.8 billion in total development, the city is attracting investment from regional and national developers.”
“The incentives are offset by additional jobs, by bringing people to live in this community who are going to pay their own taxes, make investments in the community in which they’re living, shopping and purchasing and doing all of these things.”
“That’s America. You get an incentive to buy a car, an incentive to shop in certain places, incentives to come and work in our community and make investments,” he said. “In totality, the incentives that are being offered are outweighed by the investment in the community,” said Spano.
Another piece of the Alexander Street corridor that could continue the progress on the Yonkers waterfront is the relocation of the MTA garage. The MTA operates the bus garage, located on Alexander Street and Babcock Place, yards away from the Yonkers shoreline in the single most valuable stretch of the Yonkers waterfront. Eighty buses are fueled, maintained, and rest on the site and only serve New York City-based routes, and do not serve Yonkers or Westchester riders. Over of the last eight years, New York City and the MTA have refused to have meaningful discussions with Yonkers officials about the relocation of its bus garage to any location other than where it lies today.
“For over 20 years, New York City has housed its MTA bus lot, tax free, on our pristine waterfront without any benefit to our city and without any effort to work with us,” said Spano. “For the great reasons the NYPD tow pound should be moved off Manhattan’s shoreline, so should the MTA bus garage be moved from the Yonkers’ shoreline. I am asking Gov. Cuomo to support our efforts in our discussions with New York City. It’s time to give Yonkers back its waterfront.”
Yonkers’ efforts to conduct master planning for the waterfront area are impeded by the presence of the MTA bus garage, which is exempt from paying property taxes to Yonkers. The bus garage blocks the necessary extension of public roadways and infrastructure to serve the burgeoning waterfront, prevents natural routes for public access to the expansive waterfront promenades, and undermines the value and quiet enjoyment of the properties being developed in its vicinity.
“This bus garage serves no purpose to Yonkers residents or its visitors, it obstructs additional economic development that will continue the revitalization of our waterfront,” said Mayor Spano.
