In the city of Peekskill in Westchester County, one of the latest initiatives in Governor Cuomo’s Five-Year Affordable Housing Plan through New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) has broken ground in recent weeks and begun to take shape. The $51 million affordable housing development on 645 Main Street is one of several projects involved in Peekskill’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, making it one of many cities to benefit from the state grant program in recent years. The new apartments and additional parking will be centrally located in the community and aims to have an eco-friendly bend. 

What Makes the 645 Main Street Project Eco-Friendly? 

“Every New Yorker deserves a safe, decent and affordable place to call home,” said Governor Cuomo when he announced construction. “This new, energy-efficient development builds upon our continued strategic investments in downtowns throughout the state and will provide more than 80 brand-new, affordable apartments for families and the community.” Energy efficiency plays a huge role in making any residence more affordable by saving residents on utility costs. 

The 645 Main Street units are going to include: 

• High-quality air conditioning and heating systems in apartments that are well-insulated are safer and cheaper to run. 
• Efficient appliances in the kitchen and low-flow plumbing save energy and water use. 
• Finally, photovoltaic solar panels will be installed on the roof can further offset costs by allowing the building to make some of its own energy. 

It appears that most of the eco-friendly amenities are centered around saving on utility costs. This is further aided because one of the larger energy eaters will be communal: The building will have communal laundry facilities. Additionally, tenants will benefit from permanent, tax-exempt climate bonds that are figured into the building’s budget. The project is certified by the International Climate Bonds Initiative, which funds efforts to lower New York’s carbon footprint. 

What Else Can People Expect of the 645 Main Street Affordable Housing Complex? 

With architects at L&M Design and construction helmed by Wilder Balter Partners Inc., pricing on the apartments will aim toward incomes that are at 40-80 percent of the area median income or below (which puts a one-bedroom apartment at about $900). 

RXR Realty’s ongoing efforts to construct a sprawling 21-story mixed-use commercial development in the Long Island City Area has very recently passed muster in a couple of key instances. The 42-11 9th Street environmental assessment has finally been finished and filed and the site’s long-sought rezoning permits appear to have been certified as of September 14th, 2020. 

Why the Delays in the 42-11 9th Street Project? 

RXR Realty was one of many names hoping to break bread with Amazon when it tinkered with the idea of a second headquarters in the New York City metro area, only to be forced to seek fertile ground with other clients. Of course, the firm has moved on to other projects in the year since the shipping giant ultimately left LIC. However, the site at 42-11 9th Street, located near the Queensboro Bridge has been waiting to get off the ground for nearly as long, with news of filed plans in the latter months of 2019. 

Recent images of the site released show the structures of the property’s previous owners, Titan Machine Corporation, still present, and reports from last year suggested construction would begin in July of this year, one wonders why RXR is waiting. 

Of course, COVID-19 and the delays in certain types of construction is likely a certain culprit. Since the planned structure would house only retail, office, and manufacturing spaces, there would be little reason to give an exception to a not-yet-launched project that did not immediately suit existing guidelines to progress. A much delayed environmental assessment also topped the list of necessary concerns, important since the site was known to have been contaminated in an oil spill before RXR’s acquisition.

The 42-11 9th Street Project, at a Glance

The mixed-use complex detailed in recently released renderings is massive, comprising nearly 400,000 square feet of area to be leased to different clients. 

Its spaces will be divided between a smaller parking structure, ground floor retail spaces for shoppers, office spaces, and manufacturing space. This combination explains why multiple sources have discussed the filing of rezoning permits, all of them largely to do with allowed floor area rations. This project encompasses multiple types, all housed within a single building. 

Other pertinent details suggest that the finished project will include: 

• A 21-story building, topping out at 330 to 370 feet in height 
• A two- to three-story base, including retail spaces, upon which a taller tower structure of 17 to 18 stories will rise
• Nearly 270,000 square feet of office space
• Just over 70,000 square feet dedicated to industrial space
• Over 4,000 square feet dedicated to retail
• An enclosed parking structure with space for 67 vehicles
• A planned outdoor public space, not featured in any current renderings

Before understandable delays, construction on the 42-11 9th Street project was intended to begin earlier this year. While the completion projections may be pushed back, as far as anyone knows, the intent is still to complete within a single phase, lasting 27 months. Even if they were to have broken ground this month, that would still put the project past its original 2022 completion goal, by a hair. 

There is no news as yet on which construction firms have been tapped to handle this massive undertaking, but it can’t be far off. The start of this particular race has been long-awaited. 

Back in 2016, Xin Development International sought the space between West 44th and West 45th streets in Hell’s Kitchen a gas station once stood. Even back then it was to become the firm’s second condominium venture, perhaps even to rival other similar and recent construction projects in the area, such as The West, which topped out earlier this year. 

In the years since, Bloom on Forty Fifth (formerly Hudson Garden) has evolved into one of the more significant up-and-coming mixed-use projects in Hell’s Kitchen, especially once word broke in 2017 that a “flexible format” Target location would be taking up residence in the ground floor. 

What Are the Details of the Bloom on Forty Fifth and Target Projects? 

With Marvel Architects designing and Leeding Builders Group helming construction, the nearly complete Bloom and Target have traveled a long road to come this far. This has included a period of delays and eventual refinancing in early 2019 that brought Kuafu Properties on as project managers. 

The Target on the ground floor will span 29,000 square feet, and while it will be smaller than some of their more sprawling locations (deemed “super” sized when they began to offer groceries in competition with Wal-Mart). 

Details about its “flexible format” suggest a space that is customized to suit the residence upstairs and other locals, including the following: 

• Men’s and women’s apparel and accessories
• Home items that specifically cater to people living in apartments or condos
• Portable tech
• Health, beauty, and personal care products
• Groceries, to include fresh produce and ready-made foods like sandwiches, salads, snacks, drinks, and more
• Target Mobile and Order Pickup services, useful as New Yorkers continue to social distance

Bloom’s upper floors on Forty Fifth will divide 92 units into north and south towers, each condominium ranging from studios to three-bedroom residences that boast “intelligent design” but no details on what this means. Amenities will include:

• 8,000 square foot, elevated courtyard
• Private terraces for some residences
• Storage spaces
• A bike room for residents
• A dedicated fitness room

Pricing for these spaces are yet to be announced. 

What Remains to Be Finished at the Bloom on Forty Fifth?

The two coinciding projects appear to be in their “finishing touches” stages. While earlier reports back in June showed the building topped out and ready for glass installations, that has long passed, and steady progress has continued since. 

Target spokesperson Whitney Webster confirmed in a statement that the ground floor will be open to the public by the end of the year. “As we get closer to opening the store,” she said, “we’ll have more specific details to share — including how the shopping experience will be tailored to serve local guests and the grand opening date.”

Likewise, Bloom on Forty Fifth’s higher floors are expected to be finished and ready for residents by the end of the year. Photos of the current, quite polished state of the building appear to confirm this, with signs of ladders and other equipment visible through windows suggesting that interior details and installations may be all that remains.

As the year draws into the latter months, resumed and newly launched construction projects in the metro area continue to grow. For a region ever in need of expanded affordable housing initiatives, the Gleneagle Green project in Brookhaven is a recent groundbreaking (from May of this year) that has begun to show clear results in the time since. 

The $30 million Atlantic Avenue project was among numerous affordable housing projects that Gov. Cuomo tapped to fund on Long Island. There is a greater push for both affordable spaces and affordable rentals, specifically. Affordable housing has become a high-priority to re-energize the area—not only serving lower-income residents in the community but also enticing younger New Yorkers to live and work there. This is a recurring theme that CISleads discussed briefly in its coverage of the Manhasset Square project a year ago.

Gleneagle Green – What Are the Details?

Gleneagle Green will comprise about 70 units across nine buildings, suggesting an average of 6-7 units per building. The amended proposal from November, 2019, reveals a number of telling details:

• All nine buildings will comprise mixtures of one and two-bedroom apartments. 
• The complex will sit in a “horseshoe” configuration around a common green area, facing south. 
• There will also be two other buildings: a single story, 7400 square foot community center and a 400 square foot Sanitary Sewage Disposal System Control Building to be housed on-site. 
• The complex will be gated, with exit and entry points on Atlantic Avenue and emergency access established through Patchogue Ave. 
• Roughly two off-street parking stalls per unit will also be constructed. 
• 11 of the 70 units will be reserved for residents with disabilities. 

Other sources promise amenities such as seating areas and structured playgrounds. It will also sit close to Robert Rowley Park and Bellport Area’s Boys and Girls Club. The overall image presented in these plans and subsequent reports have been quite different from recent mixed-use endeavors around the New York City metro area, but it hearkens more to the suburban feel of some of Long Island’s more settled areas. 

Funding assistance is coming from both the State of New York and Suffolk County. 

The Timeline – What Remains to Be Finished on the Gleneagle Green Project?

So far, images of the very beginnings of one of the nine apartment buildings have emerged, with the skeleton of the structure and the particleboard in place to show an idea of the structure it is to become. The buildings themselves will not be the only parts of the project for long, with the roadways, the entrances, fencing, landscaping, and the play areas to follow. The details about a waste management structure suggest a little more work to do in terms of infrastructure beyond merely connecting with local utilities. 

Full completion of the project is estimated to be Spring of 2022.

This summer, construction commenced on another low-income housing initiative in Queens, the likes of which have been in high demand in many parts of the New York City Metropolitan area. Unlike other affordable housing ventures, such as those CISLeads has covered like the Empire State Dairy and Archer Towers projects, Bishop Valero is one of the first to emerge since the start of the pandemic to focus chiefly on affordable housing for seniors. 

Bishop Valero is helmed by Catholic Charities Progress of Peoples Development Corporation and designed by Dattner Architects. The property located at 23-11 31st Road in Astoria, Queens, on the former site of the Catholic Charities Catherine Sheridan Senior Housing parking lot was meant to close in March of 2020. The COVID-19 shutdown delayed these plans in the earlier part of the year. Should another occur, its status should protect its continued progress as an affordable housing project.

Citing affordable housing as one of NYC’s enduring crises, Monsignor Alfred LoPinto, CEO of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens stressed that the project would “provide much-needed housing to low-income seniors and a supportive environment for formerly homeless,” as “there are thousands of individuals in need of affordable housing in New York City, and we cannot build fast enough.”

What Are the Specifics of the Project?

The $62 million project has secured its funding from Bank of America, Barings, and Richman Housing Resources but also tax credits through the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Renderings show a six-story building with a plain tan masonry facade on the ground floor and brick-red cement on every floor above. The windows are asymmetrical on all the upper floors, giving it a slick, modern vibe. 

• The residences will make up 102 units within the building, with one superintendent unit, comprising about 84,900 square feet in total, all on the upper floors.
• The ground floor will house a 200-seat senior center, run by Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services. 
• There will be daily, on-site prepared hot meals, referral services, educational seminars, fitness classes, and case management services in the senior center. 
• 100 percent of all units will go to seniors making up to 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI), with 30 percent of the units reserved for formerly homeless seniors with severe mental illnesses.

Rent subsidization will come through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 voucher program.

What Kind of Work Is the Bishop Valero Project Creating? 

Tradespersons and firms involved with the project can expect steady work through the next year, at the very least. Construction and ground breaking reportedly took place in early July. No demo has taken place or been scheduled. Along with the necessary wiring, plumbing, and structural work that goes into a building of this size, there will also likely be alterations to the area around, from sidewalks to any landscaping. The apartments themselves will likely include more than the standard residence by their need for accessibility. 

Currently, no timeline for completion is on record.

The Prime approaches another milestone as it marches toward completion. Since Circle F Capital acquired the property for development in 2016, the mixed-use project at 22-43 Jackson Avenue in the neighborhood of Hunters Point has been gradually taking shape for years now, and the project remains about a year from coming to an end. 

Featuring condominiums for sale on the upper floors and commercial space on the ground, the Prime’s slower stretch to the finish line can at least partly be attributed to the shutdown of construction in the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak, where all residential construction, aside from those deemed essential, was shut down. Other mixed-use projects in Long Island City managed to bypass this because their plans included affordable housing. 

Recent visits to the Prime have shown that the exterior details such as guardrails and the facades, which were still in progress a year ago, are taking their final forms. 

The Prime: The Project at a Glance

Circle F Capital’s initial plans for the Prime revealed a structure reaching eleven stories above ground, hugging the obtuse-angled intersection of 46th and Jackson Avenue. The first images revealed in 2017 showed SRA Architecture + Engineering’s designs for a mixture of light-colored masonry and tall, protruding walls of windows, and the developments since have shown little has changed. 

Once finished, the Prime will feature at least 71 residences averaging 900 square feet, ranging from one to three-bedrooms, and are being marketed starting at $675,000. The total square footage for the residences is a little under 64,000 square feet.

The ground floors will feature over 11,000 square feet of commercial space, and with the Court Square subway station across the street and the 23rd Street station just blocks away, this would mean easy transit for shoppers and residents alike. 

Most reports suggest the finished structure will amount to 120,000 square feet of space. Eastern Consolidated suggests new residents can expect centers for business and fitness, a children’s playroom, outdoor spaces, and bicycle storage, but is the only source to claim this. 

One can only assume more information is forthcoming, but at present, even the Prime’s main website remains cryptic. 

What Remains to be Completed on the Prime at 22-43 Jackson Avenue?

Exterior photos of the Prime show that most of the windows and outer masonry have been installed, with the dotted lines of rail-less balconies delineating each of the floors. A large area of the open wall remains where a hoist once stood. No longer needed, this gap is gradually being filled in. 

The area that seems to be the furthest from completion is the mechanical section on the roof, which still shows signs of waterproofing in progress. No information about how far along interior construction and design happens to be, though the interior designer has been confirmed to be Andres Escobar.

Initial reports on the property in the early part of its development projected a 2020 completion date. Right now, brokers and buyers can expect construction to wrap up sometime in 2021. 

Another portion of the old Bush Terminal complex is slated to become the site of another major transformation in the ongoing Made In New York campus project. Steiner Studios, known to manage multiple Brooklyn Navy Yard sound-stages, will be constructing an enormous TV production hub, projected to comprise around 500,000 square feet of space. It will bring over 2000 new jobs to the area and that’s excluding the work the construction, itself, will bring over the next couple years. 

The collaboration with Dattner Architects will take place in one of the remaining parts of Bush Terminal where the city has retained ownership once the Made in NY Campus initiative went into motion in 2017. It follows a continuing trend as more movie and television studios begin to move operations to the New York area, with past examples including Lionsgate, who announced a New York base in 2019. 

The Made in New York Campus, at a Glance

Expected to remain under construction until 2021, the Made in NY Campus is in itself an enormous undertaking and has been since plans for it were unveiled several years ago. Its aim: to create a focal point for local manufacturers. Bush Terminal, already a center for industry and home to multiple garment manufacturing plants, has grown increasingly derelict through the decades, with many proposals for renovation and redevelopment coming to very little. 

The Made in New York campus, once completed, will provide a new center for garment manufacturers outside of New York’s Garment District, as well as additional soundstages for television and film production. Its original proposal involved renovating two historic buildings and a 200,000 square foot building called the Hub, which will be fitted to serve between twenty and thirty tenants specializing in sample production, pattern making, and cutting and sewing. 

The Steiner Studios project, an addition to these already existing plans, will take up a space much larger than the Hub. 

The Full Details: What Will the Steiner Studios Project Involve? 

Steiner Studios will be personally investing $320 million into the new complex and also extending their efforts to other parts of the surrounding area, including completing construction on the nearby Bush Terminal Piers park and contributing $25,000 every year to park programming. They also expect to contribute to local hiring, job training, and workforce initiatives at local high schools, the surrounding community, and nonprofits that promote diversity and inclusion in television and media. Their 500,000 square foot studio space will include: 

• Eight soundstages.
• Two historical buildings to be fully renovated and serve as production support. 
• A six-story parking structure.
• Exclusive loading docks.

Along with an expected 2,200 new full-time jobs once the structures are finished, as many as 1,800 temporary positions are forthcoming for laborers and construction workers. The work entailed will They are expecting a 25 percent participation rate through Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises. They will be required to recruit from the local community through HireNYC. 

Steiner Studios is presently expecting a 2022 completion date.

On a busy corner of Jackson Ave in Long Island City, the latest from KSQ Architects and the Vorea Group shows signs of life and hopes to begin to emerge above-ground. Jackson Square has been in development since at least 2016, with plenty of time since then to evolve. It is one of many mixed-use projects that has managed to continue steady development in the Long Island area. 

However, unlike other local mixed-use ventures like Lighthouse Point, Jackson Square will not include permanent housing, much less affordable housing, which has been a major sticking point for keeping certain construction projects open during the pandemic. It has nonetheless continued to progress in the last few months, with foundation work beginning in April and drawing to a close in August. 

The Project: How Has Jackson Square Evolved? 

The first whisper of this project began in 2016 when the Vorea Group purchased a 99-year lease for the property, a mere 10,000 square feet prior to development, with initial images showing a simple corner retail space rising to towering heights of…a single story.

The location sits a single block away from Court Square Subway Station, with access to the G and 7 trains, and immediate plans appear to center around making the most of that. 

From the very beginning, proposals involved at least 50,000 square feet of new construction, including retail space, offices, and a hotel. Commuters looking to shop, work, or stay over would have immediate access to the city’s transit system. 2016 reports projected 30,000 square feet dedicated to retail on the ground floor, with no immediate information on the division between office space and hotel space.

It would take another two years before the demolition permits would be filed, the rest a year later in 2019. At this time, it projected that the finished project would be nearly 150 feet tall, and estimated around 67,000 square feet of space, including speculations on rental units. 

In the time since, at least two renderings of the space have been released to the public, both wildly different. The earlier ones featured a gray steel and concrete-based facade, and the latest features a more classical dark red exterior. By the time of the first rendering releases in October 2019, the plans then specified ground floor and cellar retail space, offices on two floors, and a 72-unit hotel on the remaining six floors, totaling nine above-ground floors.

As of April 2020, when foundation work began, the final plans promise a structure with over 87,000 square feet of space. 

Numerous historical projects have resumed work in recent weeks, including advances at Rockefeller Plaza. However, this recent news brings to mind historical events that still weigh heavily in the minds of many New Yorkers. September 11th, 2021, it will mark exactly two decades since the 9/11 attacks that took nearly 3,000 American lives and completely changed the shape of the nation forever. 

However, this somber occasion is now also slated to be marked for something happier and more hopeful: the long-awaited completion of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine. Recognized as the only house of worship to be destroyed in the attacks, efforts to rebuild it have taken nearly 20 years to come this far. Last week, construction resumed on the halfway-finished structure after two years of delays. 

What Has Been the Timeline on St Nicholas’ Church’s Rebuild?

Plans to rebuild the once-devastated structure were almost immediate. Immediately, millions in donations poured in, along with promises of construction materials, all coming from individual donors and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Greek Government, and the city of Bari, Italy. Plans to include it as part of the new World Trade Center complex also appeared as early as 2003, according to the first volume of Greek Orthodox Parishes of New York State – a Photo Tour.

Land was chosen in 2008, which would move the church from its original location on Cedar Street, where it stood for over 100 years. Its new location is at 130 Liberty Street, just south of the 9/11 memorial. Debates between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Archdiocese would continue until 2014, with Santiago Calatrava attached to design it. The Spanish architect took inspiration from Byzantine holy places such as the Hagia Sophia.

The cornerstone was laid on October 18, 2014, and the structure topped out in 2016. This timeline is fraught with frequent delays due to funding, with construction shutting down for the hopefully final time in 2018. 

St. Nicholas Church: What Remains

When construction resumed in recent weeks, sources suggested the structure was halfway done. Cranes have moved onto the site to begin installing the skylights in the main dome—much of the new design centers around light, both what comes in and what it emits. Situated 25 feet above sea level, the church will sit above the oak trees in the Memorial Park and is designed to glow at night. 

Sources have been markedly close-lipped about any details regarding what remains to be finished, beyond what can be seen in current photos. A largely stone structure, much of the outer facade has yet to be finalized, with containment scaffolding obscuring much of its unfinished face. 

The projected 2021 completion date speaks to the work that needs to be done. Finishing the masonry for the outer structure, with the likely need for attention paid to interior details, glass work, utility installation, and more, promises to be a busy year for the firms involved in St. Nicholas’ reconstruction. 

Continuing the ongoing endeavors in multiple NY areas to rebuild and beautify their parks and athletic complexes, Mount Vernon, just west of Yonkers, is at last following suit with a restoration of its own. With planning and proposals open for some months now, County officials have finally announced that Mount Vernon Memorial Field project is underway, with the $25 million contract awarded to the New York-based LandTek Group. 

The journey to this point has been a long one, and the end is still far off.

A Piece of Local History: A Brief Timeline

After opening in 1930, Mount Vernon Memorial Field swiftly became a staple of the community. It “was, in essence, our Yankee Stadium,” the City of Mount Vernon NY proudly states on their website. It was home to local games and track meets, high school graduations, and performances from the likes of the Jackson 5 and Nina Simone. 

The finished restoration hopes to bring the field back to its former status as a commercial hub, but more than just time creates distance from Mount Vernon Memorial Field’s present state and its glory days. It has since fallen into disarray, the victim of frequent illegal dumping, and has been closed for the better part of the last decade. Multiple administrations have devoted time and money to cleaning and attempted restorations, but none led to reopening. 

In 2019, before the process to rebuild began, a $2 million cleanup project commenced, with initial plans to build a stadium on the former field. Taking six weeks starting in September, this would be the first phase of the current project. 

In March of 2020, the final plans for the Mount Vernon Memorial Field would be unveiled by County Executive George Latimer, and bids would open soon after. Fast-forward to the present, to the LandTek Group and the work that is to come. 

What Will Be Done to Restore Mount Vernon Memorial Field? 

The accepted proposal differed slightly from the original vision when cleanup started last year, with the following in the works: 

• An NCAA regulation football field, which will also be suited to other sports, including field hockey and soccer. 
• 3,900 seats. The original grandstand was demolished two years ago, and the new one sports an additional 1,000 seats. 
• Updated, modern locker rooms and public restrooms.
• A skateboard park will share some space with three adjacent tennis courts. 
• An NYSPHSAA certified eight-lane track.

The level of work to be done will be tied into a mixture of restoration and full teardowns and rebuilds. An earlier report on the plans suggests that a specific task will involve removing boulders and debris under the current tennis courts, part of an earlier refurbishment from a previous administration’s cleanup attempts. 

The official groundbreaking is Wednesday, August 5, 2020. Officials are optimistic that the project will wrap up in time for high school football teams to take the field in the fall of 2021.