New York Construction News staff writer
The City of Yonkers has taken possession of a 130,000-sq. ft. parcel on the Ludlow waterfront, a major milestone in creating the first waterfront park in Southwest Yonkers.
“Today we completed the $13 million purchase of the property,” Mayor Mike Spano said in a statement. “The next step is to work with the current tenant to relocate and then complete design and construction of the park. Southwest Yonkers is the only portion of the waterfront not to have a public park, and we are now well on the way to changing that.”
The park will be a joint project of the Yonkers and the surrounding county, with the County Legislature committing to at least $10 million to complete the build-out of the park. The $13 million purchase price was funded by bonds authorized last year by the Yonkers city Council.
Design plans are not yet completed and construction is expected to begin in the next year.
The waterfront property is immediately north of the Westchester County Joint Sewage Treatment Facility and bordered on the north by American Sugar Refiners. County officials say the plan will combine an unused portion of the plant’s northern border with the newly acquired property to create the park.
“Not only did we preserve this property permanently for public recreation and enjoyment of the Hudson River, but we negotiated a pretty good deal,” Spano said.
An ice plant was on the property in 1886, and more recently there was an oil tank farm on the site. Currently, the property serves as a bus yard and Yonkers Industrial Development Agency is searching for a new location for the buses.
A comprehensive environmental assessment of the property confirmed that there were no issues that would prevent its use as a public park. The assessment was carried out in coordination with the State Department of Environmental Conservation.
“This is an enormous step forward for our goal to make the Hudson Waterfront available to the public,” added Mayor Spano. “All of the new waterfront developments contain dedicated public access to the River, and of course we have the JFK Marina in northern Yonkers.
Creating this park in Southwest Yonkers really completes the picture.”
