Yonkers Waterfront Financing - I Will Believe It When I See It!
SFC’s promises on construction net $4M loan from Yonkers
Len Maniace
lamanice@lohud.com
YONKERS - The developers of a massive downtown redevelopment plan have won a $4.2 million loan that they’ve described as crucial, after pledging to add a residential tower and a fully built-out baseball stadium to their guaranteed construction plan.
The 400-unit building and 6,500-seat stadium were part of Struever Fidelco Cappelli’s original $1.6 billion development plan, but were not included in a minimum-build plan to which it agreed to be legally bound. That plan came under fire last week from the Yonkers City Council for failing to include housing and an attraction to draw people downtown.
Though the latest actions are advances for the project that Yonkers officials say is key to the downtown’s renewal, they also bring more pressure for the City Council to meet a May 24 deadline, which SFC says was imposed by one of its lenders.
The council on Tuesday approved the $4.2 million federal Housing and Urban Development loan to SFC, money the company says is urgently needed to pay consultants and city fees if the project is to continue.
That approval came after the developer agreed to include the apartment building and fully built stadium in the project’s first phase.
The additional work amounts to an additional $170 million worth of construction, project manager Joe Apicella said. The plan the council objected to was estimated at $500 million.
Addressing the City Council by telephone Tuesday, developer Louis Cappelli asked the city to speed up its plan to sell or lease 2.4 acres on the Hudson River waterfront to the company, a site where it proposes to build two 25-story condominium towers. Cappelli said the deal needs to be completed by May 24.
“It’s my job, our job, to get this job across the finish line,” Cappelli told the council. “The finish line, right now, is to make sure we have all the approvals signed and to make sure everything about this job is wrapped up in a box with a ribbon and bow on it, so it is completely ready to execute.”
Cappelli sought to assure the council that the development would be built, despite a recession triggered by the collapse of the nation’s credit market.
If private lending proves slow in coming, Cappelli told the council, SFC was already seeking to tap Build America Bonds that are part of the president’s economic stimulus package to help finance the project. Cappelli also said the economic slowdown was lowering construction costs, further assisting the developers.
Critics, however, wondered how SFC could suddenly agree to undertake the additional construction so soon after telling city officials that it was not possible, particularly because there was no market for residential construction.
“I question how two key elements of a project were removed and reincorporated in the relative blink of an eye,” said Councilwoman Joan Gronowski, D-3rd District.
Gronowski and council Majority Leader Sandy Annabi, D-2nd District, were the only opposition to granting SFC the $4.2 million loan.
SFC officials and Mayor Phil Amicone have said the minimum development plan was misconstrued by critics, adding that it laid out a two-year timetable for a first phase of construction to assure the city that the developer would not take ownership of the site without putting up buildings.
Commenting on the additional construction, Amicone said, “This should prove to those who were skeptical that their intent was, and continues to be, the full build-out of this project.”
Along with completing the land contract, the City Council must approve a tax agreement to finance approximately $160 million in public works projects needed for the development. That plan would tap a portion of future tax revenue from the development sites to repay borrowing used to fund the infrastucture improvements that include public garages and stormwater and sewer lines.
May 24 is the deadline that SFC said its $10.5 million loan with TD Bank comes due. By then, the company needs to have an approved land contract for the 16 acres and a series of other approvals by city planners. A $13.5 million loan from SFC’s other lender, Bank of Scotland, comes due in mid-June.
SFC said it must meet the deadlines to win extensions of the loans. The company said it faced similar deadlines late last year, when the City Council needed to complete its environmental approvals of the project.
The proposed land contract, officially known as a land disposition agreement, calls for the city to transfer nearly 16 acres at three sites to SFC for $14.5 million.
City Council President Chuck Lesnick said yesterday that he believed the council would meet SFC’s deadline. “This City Council seems to work well under pressure,” he said. “This project has already been well vetted publicly.”
Additional Facts
The deal with SFC
The city would sell or enter into a long-term lease with Struever Fidelco Cappelli for four parcels covering nearly 16 acres that the company would develop. The parcels:
- City Hall annex at 87 Nepperhan Ave.
- River Park Center, east of City Hall
- Cacace Center, across Nepperhan Avenue from City Hall
- Palisades Point (parcels H&I), Hudson River waterfront
