It could be the biggest housing boom the Yonkers waterfront has seen in years.
Developers are lining up with plans for nearly 2,300 units of condominium or rental apartments on or near the Hudson River, while nearly 900 more are either under construction or completed.
Builders are being encouraged by city officials offering tax incentives and promises of a cooperative relationship. And huddled Manhattan residents yearning to breathe free are attracted to more spacious digs at competitive prices and easy access to the Metro-North Railroad.
"To get what you really want in Manhattan, you have to be an investment banker," said Brad Daley, 43, an office manager who fled the city to buy an apartment at the Broadway Lofts on North Broadway for about $300,000 in early 2006. "There is an untold number of frustrated Manhattanites."
The new neighbors are finding that the downtown waterfront isn't without its drawbacks, however.
The din from construction, late-night crowds and daytime events is louder than some expected. Parking is in short supply, along with decent shopping, they say. Residents are pinning some hope on a $1.5 billion proposal by the development group Struever Fidelco Cappelli LLC that includes fresh commercial projects in an area near City Hall.
Not all residential projects are moving at the same pace.
Construction is currently under way on two rental apartment buildings, the Main Street Lofts and the second phase of Hudson Park. The first phase of Hudson Park, completed in 2003, is almost fully rented, said developer Arthur Collins Jr. of Collins Enterprises.
That demand, however, hasn't extended to The River Club, a 353-unit condo proposal on Warburton Avenue. Developer Martin Ginsburg is seeking the renewal of a site-plan approval he obtained three years ago. Earlier this year, Ginsburg said the market was "a little off," and he hoped to start building in 2008 if the city agrees to renew the plan.
Other developers express confidence that the momentum along the waterfront will continue.
"It's a place that's really been devoid of any serious investment and upgrade for maybe 40 years," Collins said. "The city's doing the right things. ... This demand is only going up. The New York market is one of those places where people want to be."
Developer Peter Murray, who completed the renovation of the Broadway Lofts building where Daley lives, agreed. "The question is how long the line is going to be," he said. "Because there's value in good quality housing."
Daley and his neighbors have similar stories to share about their road to Yonkers.
Daley rented a studio apartment in the Chelsea section of Manhattan for eight years, paying $1,800 a month in rent toward the end. Ownership in Manhattan, where he worked, was out of the question; brokers were asking $400,000 for a 400-square-foot studio in his neighborhood.
At Broadway Lofts, he purchased a unit with 1,250 feet of space. He felt some ambivalence about the move; he was put off by the shabbiness of the downtown and "a total lack of services of any kind" - but he was excited about the quality of the loft.
"I think (the neighborhood) looks a lot worse than it is," Daley said. "I like the racial diversity. Economically, it felt very depressed. I don't really patronize any of the businesses downtown, because there's nothing there that I'm interested in buying."
Friends who stayed in Manhattan warned him: "Your life is over. What were you thinking?" There were times he wondered himself. One Sunday morning, a building across the street from his new home held a group event with amplified sound so loud it recalled life in the noisy streets of his previous neighborhood.
But when he called Yonkers City Hall to report a broken streetlight, he was impressed with how quickly the repair followed.
"You can see it's a priority for them. They've just been in the dumps for so long," Daley said.
City officials have been striving to draw more commercial development near the waterfront to support the needs of an expected influx of new residents. Seeking to drum up interest among prospective restaurateurs, Mayor Philip Amicone spoke at a program last month that outlined some of the help that City Hall was prepared to offer entrepreneurs.
"I can guarantee you will always have a partner, and in many cases a silent partner, because when you succeed as a business, we succeed as a community," Amicone told the crowd at Zuppa, a Main Street restaurant that opened in 2003.
Daley said he and others in his building are hoping that the Struever Fidelco Cappelli project, now under city planning review, will take off.
"I think we're all keeping our ears pressed to the ground. ... From what we're hearing, it's coming," Daley said. "So far, so good."
Guido Tabano, one of Daley's neighbors at Broadway Lofts, agreed the area is drawing people from the south.
"Everyone here is definitely from the city," he said. "People, I think, are definitely sick of the whole rat race and living in cramped quarters."
Tabano left a 500-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side with a $1,950 monthly rent to buy in Yonkers. Adequate parking is still a big problem in the area, and "it's a little bit of culture shock coming here," but he sees a future here.
"The potential is definitely there," Tabano said. "I can see where this area is going."
Mark Overton, a head carpenter who works on Broadway, rented an apartment on the fifth floor of Hudson Park in December 2003. He wishes he could buy it.
He has 1,050 square feet and three exposures to the Hudson River, all for about $2,000 a month. The Metro-North train station is a short walk away, and the ride to Manhattan runs from 25 to 36 minutes.
"You can't beat the view, the convenience of the train," said Overton, 50. "It's a wonderful little utopia away from Manhattan. ... I sit and stare at the Palisades all day."
On the downside, he is turned off by the liquor stores and five-and-dime shops in the neighborhood. He drives seven miles to the Costco to do his grocery shopping; it takes too long to get in and out of the ShopRite supermarket a few blocks away, he said.
And for a man who sometimes leaves work at 11 at night and needs to be back by 8 the following morning, Overton finds the noise around nearby bars and restaurants an issue.
"There are people screaming out there till 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning," he said. Meanwhile, there's construction on Hudson Park's second phase. For a while, he said, the pile driving started at 6 a.m.
"Not much fun," he said. "I've sort of gotten used to it.
"I have to give Yonkers credit for attempting to revive things here. Of course, it's a whole lot easier if you have a waterfront."
Collins said private equity decided to invest in Yonkers because of a confluence of conditions.
"First of all, you have to have a pro-business administration. And that means no corruption," he said. Also needed is a master plan for the area, plus financial incentives that help reduce costs and make financing feasible.
"If one of these things is missing, you don't have a deal," Collins said. "I can't say enough about what the city has done, especially Phil Amicone. ... He had the long-term view and vision for how to make this work."
