RXR-Rising JV to Build $197M High-Rise Project in Yonkers

YONKERS, NY—RXR Realty and Rising Development will be moving forward on a $197.4-million project at Larkin Plaza in Downtown Yonkers that will feature market-rate residential apartments and retail space.

The project at the site owned by Rising Development overlooks Van Der Donck Park. The proposed development by RXR and Rising is before the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency for possible sales and mortgage tax exemptions, as well as a temporary property tax exemption. The agency gave the go-ahead for the project, which encompasses an entire city block, to begin the process to secure those incentives on Thursday.

The development calls for a total of 442-units totaling 454,000 square feet of rental housing. It will also feature more than 40,000 square feet of ground floor retail and restaurant space and 509 parking spaces. The project will entail one integrated building with three components. A 25-story tower will be built on the western end of the property. A low-rise retail component (two stories) will be constructed along the park, and a mid-rise residential building of approximately 17 stories will be located on the Main Street frontage of the property.

RXR is in discussions with the City of Yonkers on the amount of apartments to be set aside for affordable housing. The project, along with a residential project to be developed by Ginsburg Development Companies on Warburton Ave. that was granted approval for incentives by the YIDA, still require zoning and planning board approvals by the city.

“This will be an incredible boost for our efforts to transform downtown Yonkers,” says Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano who chairs the YIDA. “It will bring hundreds of new households to our downtown waterfront, providing customers for our stores, restaurants, and other businesses. It seals the transformation of the Larkin Plaza area as a 24-hour community and a center of economic growth in the region.”

The site currently consists of empty buildings on the south side of Van Der Donck Park in Larkin Plaza. The project has already been designated a priority project by New York State's Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council, and has been awarded $1 million in assistance from New York State's Empire State Development Corp. RXR is entering into a joint venture with Rising Development, which has owned the properties for several years, to carry out the plan, the YIDA states. YIDA President Ken Jenkins estimates the project upon completion will create approximately 250 new jobs.

Seth Pinsky, executive vice president for RXR, says that the Uniondale, NY-based real estate investment and development firm will be the managing partner of the joint venture. He said the joint venture hopes to break ground on the mixed-use project by the middle of 2016.

He says the venture is now in the market for financing and has received “good feedback” from lenders concerning the project. Pinsky, a native of Yonkers, says that he believes the financing and the selection of a construction manager should be finalized prior to the anticipated groundbreaking for the project.

RXR's participation in the Yonkers mixed-use project is part of the company's strategy to invest in “emerging submarkets.” Pinsky says that one submarket it has identified is the outer boroughs of New York City where it has acquired approximately 1 million square feet of commercial space. The other submarket RXR is investing in is suburban downtowns. In addition to Yonkers, RXR and Renaissance Downtowns make up RDRXR, the master developer for the proposed redevelopment of Downtown New Rochelle. The proposed master plan at full build out could total more than 10 million square feet of new construction.

“What we are looking for in suburban downtowns are communities where there is diversity, where there is character architecturally and otherwise, where this is walkability and where there is a local administration that is interested in seeing development,” he says. Another key factor that would trigger its investment interest is a community that has transit accessibility to New York City.

“In our opinion Yonkers checks every one of those boxes,” Pinsky says.

He adds that RXR is looking at other Westchester County communities for possible investment. While no deals have been signed, Pinsky says that RXR “is very actively canvassing Westchester.”

The company is also working on other suburban downtown projects in Stamford, CT, as well as in Glen Cove, Hempstead, and Huntington Station on Long Island.

“We really are big believers in the strategy and we are moving aggressively and Westchester is squarely in our sights…” he adds.

The YIDA also voted to begin the incentive approval process for Ginsburg Development Companies. to build a three-story, 55-unit rental building at 1177 Warburton Avenue in the Greystone neighborhood. The estimated cost of the project is $18.4 million. The site is currently occupied by four dilapidated and empty homes that were purchased by a prior developer who hoped to build a 100-unit building. That developer fell victim to the 2008 recession. In addition the city rezoned the area to reduce the allowable number of apartments. The properties have since been taken over by the lender, Builders Bank of Chicago. The market rate units will be adjacent to the 330 unit River Tides rental project that GDC is also building on Warburton Avenue.