Downtown Yonkers rises with its river

While Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been busy revitalizing New York City’s waterfront, the city’s neighbor to the north, Yonkers, is first uncovering its water — the Saw Mill River. And it’s having a similar affect. According to the New York Times, real estate investment is booming around the river.

The waterway, which is a branch of the Hudson River, had been covered by concrete for nearly a century. Two blocks of it have already been uncovered and two more phases will expose another four blocks of it in downtown Yonkers.

The $48 million project started bringing development to the area — including a reconstructed Metro-North depot, a new $35 million library, apartments and restaurants — before the recession, and now that the financial climate is improving, new real estate projects are reemerging with the water.

For example, Manhattan businessman Nicholas Sprayregen plans to renovate a block-long abandoned warehouse into loft buildings for work-live Residences And Street-level retail called Mill Street Courtyard. He’s also planning a $150 million, 22-story office and residential complex nearby.

“I saw the success of the library and apartments next to the river and realized this is a place I want to invest in heavily,” Sprayregen told the Times.

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano has secured municipal funding for the Mill Street Courtyard, as well as a $200 million transformation of the abandoned Glenwood Power Plant, which will become an events center, and the $109 million River Park Center, a 224,000-square-foot mixed-use project that will rise alongside the river. [NYT]