The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency gave preliminary approval today for a $22 million project to redevelop five downtown properties into lofts, retail and restaurant space. The Mill Street Courtyard project is slated to be completed in two years and provide 134 jobs.
The properties, which are located on Mill Street and Main Street, are owned by developer Nicholas Sprayegen’s Rising Development-Yonkers. Upgrading the properties is the first of two phases of the project, which will connect the waterfront, Larkin Plaza and Main Street.
The IDA board is providing mortgage-tax exemptions totaling $79,000 and roughly $451,000 in sales-tax exemptions on the materials used in the renovation. The IDA plans to negotiate a property-tax abatement.
“This continues the rebirth of the downtown and waterfront as a destination for new businesses and new residents,” Mayor Mike Spano, chairman of the IDA board, said in a statement. “Developers with vision increasingly see Yonkers as a great opportunity.”
The construction budget for the redevelopment is about $11 million. Furnishings, fit-out and equipment will cost another $3.8 million. Property-acquisition costs are some $7.6 million, according to the IDA.Specifics on phase one of the redevelopment work include converting 27 Main St. into 7,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space; 13 Main St. and the adjacent 2 Mill St. into 25,000 square feet of residential and work lofts and 6,000 square feet of retail space; and 36 and 38 Main St. into 15 live/work lofts and 4,000 square feet of cafe and retail space.
A vacant building at 24 Warburton Ave. will be razed and replaced with a pedestrian passageway linking the new Larkin Plaza park created by the Daylighting Project and the Mill Street Courtyard.
