The city's new Alexander Street Master Plan, unveiled last night, calls for 3,700 apartment units and 13 acres of new parkland, much of it along a waterfront esplanade. It would transform a 112-acre area that is largely inhabited by aging industrial buildings, the best known of which is a big blue cube that once housed BICC's cable-making operations and more recently was used by moviemakers as a sound stage.
"We've talked about redeveloping our old industrial downtown and waterfront for a generation, maybe more," Mayor Phil Amicone said last night after the plan's presentation to the city's Community Development Agency. "This is the first real step toward actually doing that."
The site is narrow, squeezed between the Metro-North Railroad tracks and the Hudson River. The area stretches up to JFK Marina and Trevor Park, where some recreation improvements also would take place.
"I'm very disappointed that they are talking about such tall buildings and such limited green space," said Deirdre Hoare of the Community First Development Coalition, a local group that advocates for open space and smaller-scale developments.
The plan, estimated to cost $2.3 billion, calls for 210,000 square feet of retail space and 213,500 square feet of office space. It specifically excludes big-box stores, which planners say would not be appropriate along the waterfront and would jam the area and nearby streets with traffic.
The plan also calls for marinas and kayak launches that would create 1,600 permanent new jobs on the site and would include a new access road to the waterfront at Point Street. It would also include a causeway connecting the JFK Marina with the southern portion of the development.
Some of the housing would be contained in a series of three- and four-story buildings typical of many of the city's older neighborhoods. The plan also calls for a lot of parking: 6,800 spaces, mostly in garages, and 480 spaces of on-street parking.
Unlike some other recent development plans, such as the SFC River Park Center next to City Hall and the Ridge Hill project off the New York State Thruway, the Alexander Street Master Plan contains no detailed plans for its apartment buildings, shops and parks. City officials envision different developers building portions of the site. At least three are expected to compete: Struever Fidelco Cappelli, REMI Cos. and Homes for America.
Last night's presentation started a 60-day clock for public comment on the master plan and its environmental impact statement.
State law calls for a comment period of at least 30 days, which the city decided to double for this project. James Slaughter, an official of the environmental group Scenic Hudson, said the review should be even longer.
"Because it is such a momentous project and it will certainly put a stamp for the next 50 to 100 years (on) Yonkers, they should consider extending at least another 30 days to allow for the maximum amount of participation by the citizens of Yonkers," he said.
Although the housing industry has been hurt by trouble in the home-loan industry, planners and city officials said they believed the Alexander Street development had many advantages that would allow it to withstand those problems, as long as the project is not unduly delayed. Those benefits include spectacular views of the Hudson River and the Palisades; access to two Metro-North stations, in downtown Yonkers and Glenwood; and proximity to newly rebuilt portions of the downtown.
Protecting the river views is one of the key concerns of environmental groups such as Scenic Hudson. That group successfully opposed a 1988 plan to build six 38-story apartment towers on the Yonkers waterfront.
Although the site is home to about 1,025 full-time jobs, city officials say the area is blighted, blocks public access to the Hudson River and is "underperforming." It produces $1.4 million in tax revenue, about one-fifth of what is produced by the nearby Collins residential development, which includes 266 apartment units and 294 others under construction. That development was produced by a similar master plan in the 1990s.
Planners considered and rejected series of alternatives for the Alexander Street area, such as turning the bulk of the industrial site into a 53-area park or building fewer units, before concluding each would be too expensive. Part of that cost would come from an extensive environmental cleanup that is expected to be necessary.
What's more, since most of the waterfront was created by filling in the Hudson River, piling would need to be sunk deep below ground to support structures, planners said, further adding to development costs.
Although mostly industrial, the site now includes 20 apartment units.
Of the 1,025 jobs in the area, some were already scheduled to move, and the city hopes to keep some of the others in Yonkers.
Sixty jobs at Greyston Bakery would remain in their current location. About 250 jobs at a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus depot are moving to the Bronx, and 270 workers with the Westchester County Department of Social Services are moving to another site in downtown Yonkers.
The city is seeking new locations in Yonkers for Excelsior Transparent Bag, which employs 185 people, and Altman Lighting, which has 140 workers, Amicone said.
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