Ridge Hill

For the past week, Yonkers City Council president Chuck Lesnickhas been in negotiations with Forest City Ratner and WestchesterCounty officials in an attempt to mediate some issues that havedelayed the project, including traffic and taxes. Forest CityRatner had given city officials until June 15 to show that progresswas being made so that construction could begin soon or itreportedly threatened it might walk away from the project.

On June 15, councilwoman Sandy Annabi announced she had decidedto support the Ridge Hill project. Annabi said that Forest CityRatner had agreed to increase the taxes it would pay on the projectover the next three years from a total of $900,000 to $10.9million. The Ridge Hill development, to be built on an 81.4-acretract between the New York State Thruway and the Sprain BrookParkway, if approved, will feature 1.3 million sf of retail,restaurant and retail use, 800 rental apartments, 150,000 sf ofoffice and research space, a 350-room hotel, a 40,000-sf conferencecenter and approximately 7,000 parking spaces.