Massive Waterfront Redevelopment in Yonkers

The Yonkers waterfront along the Hudson River has become a panorama of cranes, trains, and construction activity as key parts of a major redevelopment plan move forward.

Among the big jobs wrapping up are the 266-unit Hudson Park apartment complex under development by Collins Enterprises of Greenwich, Conn. Built on the river side of the Metro North rail station and tracks, the new complex features two seven-story buildings with ground floor retail.

Collins is one of the developers negotiating with the city to develop new residential buildings on two other riverside parcels, according to Richard Halevy, director of public affairs and community relations for Mayor John Spencer.

To the north along Alexander Street, a newly built facility houses the Beczak Environmental Education Center, which runs river and aquatic educational programs. And the city has acquired an adjacent large parcel-which housed a gasoline offloading terminal and storage tanks-for mixed-use redevelopment.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is handling a $35 million rehabilitation of its Yonkers stop on the Hudson Line, restoring the platform, station, and tracks in a project due to finish in 2004. Nearby on the second story of a waterfront pier is a planned new restaurant by Peter Kelly, who owns the only two five-star restaurants in Westchester County. The pier's lower portion is pegged for a ferry terminal that will provide service to Manhattan.

All of the parcels west of the tracks give the city 50 feet of frontage along the river for eventual extension of its planned Esplanade Park, Halevy says.

Even the east side of the tracks has activity. A five-story office building that will serve as corporate headquarters for Homes for America is rising across from the pier. Across the street from that building is a recently completed 650-car municipal parking garage. And nearby, a private is refurbishing a 75,000-square foot mixed-use building that used to house the city's trolley cars. The Yonkers Trolley Barn will have 30 apartment lofts and first-floor retail when it opens in early 2004.

"Yonkers hasn't seen this amount of activity in 40 years," says Halevy, who notes that one other major project would be a quarter mile away-a planned minor league ballpark.

Carlton Hotel Renovation and Expansion

The Carlton on Madison Avenue, a 12-story, 311-room hotel at E. 29th Street in Manhattan, is undergoing an expansion and major renovation. The hotel selected ICS Builders of Manhattan as general contractor for construction of a new 17,000-square foot, three-story addition that will house a Grand Lobby.

The job, slated for completion in December 2003, also involves complete renovation of guestrooms and the redevelopment and restoration of public spaces, including a new restaurant, a café and lounge bar, meeting rooms, and a 40-foot-long internal glass bridge.

The addition, public space work, and guestroom renovation follows a design by Rockwell Group, a New York architectural firm. Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers, also based in New York, is structural engineer. Allegiance Hospitality Services manages the hotel.

Caption for the rendering on disc in package: "ICS Builders is constructing the new Grand Lobby, an addition to The Carlton on Madison Avenue in Manhattan."

The building will house 245 high-quality condominium apartments, as well as 225 underground parking spaces. Two Trees won the job through an RFP process conducted earlier this year. It will retain the building's façade and spend $95 million in the rehabilitation. 110 Livingston was built in 1925 from a design by McKim, Mead & White, and occupied by the former Board of Education in 1939.

Building Schools Cheaper

Bloomberg and the Department of Education credited bureaucratic and management reforms for the lower costs that resulted from the bidding process for an 86,400-square foot, 650-seat addition to Queens Vocational High School. The SCA awarded the contract for the project to Turner Construction. Work on four-story project began over the summer and will be complete in September 2005, with new classrooms, a library and gym, offices, and other facilities.

Renovation of Troy Towers Underway

Downtown Troy's John F. Kennedy Towers Senior Housing Complex is getting a $16.8-million facelift, thanks to $11.4 million in state aid, according to the office of Gov. George Pataki. The New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal leveraged aid from the Federal Low Income Housing Credit Program to preserve the affordable housing units, which had fallen into disrepair.

The state's effort, along with partners in the Troy Housing Authority and Omni Housing Development, will completely renovate and reconfigure the existing 265 studio apartments into 102 one-bedroom and 31 two-bedroom units for households earning below 60 percent of the area median income and a primary resident over 55 years of age.

Turner Construction Company is the general contractor and Architecture + of Troy is the project architect.

Groundbreaking for JetBlue at JFK

The fast-growing low-fare carrier JetBlue Airways broke ground in August at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) for the construction of a new aircraft maintenance hangar and technical support office. The complex will include a 70,000-square foot maintenance hangar and a two-story 32,000-square foot office facility.

The hangar will be able to accommodate three Airbus A320 aircraft, while the office will house 400 support crew members. The $45-million job, designed by HOK Architects, is slated for completion in late 2004. Major project team members are Turner Construction on construction and Tishman Construction Corporation and McClier as Owner's Representatives for JetBlue.

Hawley Wins Two Municipal Jobs

Hawley Construction Corporation of Danbury, Conn., won $1 million worth of new municipal projects over the summer, submitting winning bids for a two-story addition for the Madison Firehouse in Madison, Conn., and a garage addition for the Wolcott, Conn., highway department.

The firehouse project will add two apparatus bays to the existing facility, as well as two smaller basement apparatus bays, offices, a bunk area, storage space, and an exercise fitness room. Construction begins this fall and will wrap up next spring.

The upgraded highway garage, which will house a police impound lot and salt storage center, will add 16,800 square feet in three buildings, including two Kirby Building Systems metal structures and a fabric structure for salt storage.

New Townhouses in N.J.

A proposed 148-unit first phase of a planned 911-unit townhouse and condominium development has passed its first hurdle, winning preliminary site plan approval in Cinnaminson Township, N.J. The project, along the Delaware River, is expected to attract young professionals from the Philadelphia area. The design is by Minno & Wasko Architects of Lambertville, N.J. for the developer, Kaplan Companies of Highland Park, N.J.

The project will be along a planned light rail line connecting Camden to Trenton, and a stop is planned in the development. It will also feature a promenade built along the riverfront.