The approval moves the $45-million venture closer to breaking ground. Although the schedule is based on preleasing, Bill Eichengrun, managing partner of 9 Corporate Drive Peekskill Development, projects the initial phase of the development will be ready for occupancy by the summer of 2008. Eichengrun says that site work on the project will likely begin by September or October.

The Cortland Manor-based firm is awaiting approval from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on a plan to cap the former municipal landfill, which was closed in 1974.

"The site plan approval is an important milestone in making the Hudson View a reality," says Eichengrun. "This project is a classic example of how public and private enterprises can work together to achieve something significant. The City of Peekskill needed help in re-engineering its landfill and we needed their support to make it financially feasible. In years to come, other municipalities will use this project as a case study on how to do things right."

The project when constructed will be the first class A office park in northern Westchester County in many years. Each four-story building will feature 93,000 sf of offices and have units available from 5,000 sf. The buildings will be LEED certified and feature environmentally friendly building systems, company officials say.

The project is receiving incentives from the Peekskill Industrial Development Agency, including sales and mortgage tax breaks as well as more than $8 million in Solid Waste Remediation bond financing.

Eichengrun says that his firm and leasing agent CB Richard Ellis are in discussions with a prospective tenant that is interested in leasing two floors or approximately 45,000 sf of space at the development.

He adds that due in part to the incentives being offered by the City of Peekskill, asking rents will be at $24 per sf gross, plus $3 electric, a bargain as compared to space in Downtown White Plains that is now securing more than $40 a sf for space there.

Although the construction timetable depends on leasing activity at the project, Eichengrun says that the first building should take about 14 months to complete. If leasing warrants, construction would begin on the second building six months after initial construction on the first building had begun.

He expects that based on present demand the building could be substantially preleased or fully committed prior to the completion of construction.

"This will be the premier new class A office space in Westchester County and the first to come to northern Westchester in a long time," notes Eichengrun. "The re-emergence of Peekskill will make the northern Westchester-Putnam-Orange corridor a very attractive place to live and work in the future. This region of the Hudson Valley also offers more affordable housing options for employees of firms that will be based here. This project is coming together in the right place at the right time."