YONKERS-Stamford, CT-based developer Collins Enterprises LLC and equity partner AIG Global Real Estate broke ground Thursday on the second phase of the Hudson Park at Yonkers development. At an event that featured Mayor Philip Amicone, State Sen. Nicholas Spano and members of the city council, Collins revealed that it had begun infrastructure work and will drive piles for the $110-million Hudson Park North development in the next 30 days. Completion is scheduled for December 2008.

Hudson Park North will feature 294 luxury one- and two-bedroom units in two towers of 12 and 14 stories that will be connected by a four-story building. Monthly rents will range from $1,800 to $3,000.

Collins completed the first phase of the development, Hudson Park, in 2003. The 266-unit development, which also contains 15,500 sf of retail and cost $60 million to build, is just about fully leased.

Arthur Collins Jr., co-founding principal of Collins, says that AIG bought out the equity interest in the first phase of Hudson Park from Simpson Housing LP of Denver and has also provided a majority of the equity for the current Hudson Park North. Collins did not provide any other specifics of the Simpson-AIG deal except to say it closed this past summer. Collins Enterprises is managing partner of phase one of the development.

HSBC is providing construction financing for the second phase (Hudson Park North) totaling $82 million. Collins tells GlobeSt.com that the project will be receiving assistance from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency and from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation via brownfield tax credits.

Prior to the groundbreaking, Collins and Mayor Amicone cut the ribbon on a bridge connecting the north and south ends of Yonkers harbor nearby the project site. In the near future, the city will complete work on a 4.5-mile waterfront park and plans to construct a city-owned marina adjacent to the property.

While Collins notes that there is still much work to be done to redevelop the Downtown waterfront district, he adds that major capital has come to the city of late based in large part on the city's $100-million investment in the area to upgrade the infrastructure and develop a new library/education center there. "Yonkers is actually becoming a great city again," Collins says.