The new undertaking calls for about 180 apartments in a building 22 stories high, costing about $100 million. Collins said he expects opposition from people who feel tall buildings on the waterfront are spoiling Hudson River views elsewhere in Yonkers.
The plan drew strong support from Mayor Philip Amicone. He said luring more residents into the downtown/waterfront area is essential if the city wants to draw more retail development into the region.
"They follow the population. They don't create it," Amicone said after the ribbon-cutting program for Collins' Hudson Park North. "Art Collins has certainly made a significant investment here."
Collins acknowledged that taxpayer assistance has helped make his apartment projects in Yonkers a reality. Of the $125 million it cost to build the Hudson Park North complex, $120 million qualified for about an 18 percent state tax credit, he said.
The credit includes benefits for building in and remediating an abandoned industrial site that was contaminated with heavy metals, and an Empire Zone tax credit. Collins said the so-called brownfields tax credit, under criticism in Albany, was a key part of his decision to build in the area.
"This is a very important program that needs to be maintained in some form or fashion," he told the audience of dozens of city officials and local business people who gathered for the occasion.
American International Group Inc. is an equity partner with Collins, and Hong Kong Shanghai Bank HSBC was a lender, he said.
Collins told the crowd he will continue to own and operate his buildings in Yonkers, rather than sell them.
It was a picture-perfect day to mark an undertaking that began in 1998, with blue skies and friendly breezes welcomed by a grateful crowd that remembered the heat wave just two days earlier.
Hudson Park North has 294 units of one and two bedrooms in three segments, two towers of 12 and 14 stories and a connecting four-story building. It's a companion complex to the $62 million Hudson Park South, 266 luxury rental units plus restaurant space that Collins completed five years ago.
Hudson Park North is distinguished from its neighbor by floor-to-ceiling windows that offer extraordinary views of the river, the nearby Metro-North train station and the surrounding downtown.
Rents are breathtaking as well: The penthouse suites command $5,000 to $6,470 a month. The one- and two-bedrooms start at $1,800 and $2,300 a month, respectively.
The esplanade between Hudson Park North and the river is open to the public. It was designed to accommodate the weight of fire trucks, Collins said.
Fifteen percent of the Hudson Park North units already are leased, he said, and Hudson Park South is fully leased.
Reach Jerry Gleeson at 914-694-5026 or jgleeson@lohud.com.
