Yonkers Projects Win Industrial Development Agency Tax Breaks

Separate projects by Nicholas Lettire and Michael Gontar have won preliminary approval of tax breaks from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency.

One of the developments, by Urban Builders Collaborative, the development arm of Lettire Construction, will be a mixed-use building with 185 apartments across three lots at 325, 335, and 337 Broadway. The sites currently house a city parking lot, a vacant commercial building and a one-story commercial building.

Urban Builders Collaborative has developed 2,000 multifamily homes for over $1 billion across New York, New Jersey and Westchester County.

The Broadway development’s units will range from studios to three-bedroom apartments. The project is expected to generate 300 construction jobs, begin in December 2025 and cost $159 million. Lettire is requesting a $4.3 million sales tax exemption, a $1.1 million mortgage tax exemption and a 33-year real property tax exemption.

The other development, by Gontar Management of Yonkers, will feature a mix of market-rate and affordable units with street-level retail along South Broadway. It will also stretch across three parcels: 3 Prospect Street, 52 South Broadway and 47 South Broadway.

Gontar is initially requesting a sales tax exemption of $88,000 for a planned $2.6 million demolition at the project site.

Gontar Management was founded in 1999 with a focus on building affordable housing. The company owns more than 16 properties in Westchester County, with over 150,000 square feet in combined residential and commercial space.

The two projects would continue a surge in multifamily building in certain Westchester County cities. Between 2014 and 2022, annual multifamily building permits granted in the county grew sixfold, to 3,000. The boom led to large-scale growth in the downtowns of Yonkers, New Rochelle, and White Plains, along with some towns and villages.

In 2019, the Yonkers Industrial Development Fund provided financial incentives to nearly a dozen projects whose total private investment exceeded $850 million. The developments were projected to build over 2,000 residential units, 105,430 square feet of retail and commercial space, and nearly 2,000 construction, permanent, and part time jobs.

— Caroline Handel