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Sleepy Hollow Finally Breaks Ground On GM Site

Originally posted at Westchestermagazine.com

For 20 years, a nearly 100-acre property of cement, rusted fences, and patches of grass sat undeveloped. The General Motors Assembly Plant at the Sleepy Hollow (nee North Tarrytown) waterfront ceased operations in 1996, leaving a major eyesore for the residents of the village and decades of debate about what would occupy the vacant terrain. Earlier today, representatives from joint project investors SunCal and Diversified Realty, along with Sleepy Hollow Mayor Ken Wray, County Deputy County Executive Kevin Plunkett, and past and present Board of Trustees members, gathered at the site to celebrate the groundbreaking for Edge-On-Hudson, a transit-oriented property along the riverfront with plans for 60-plus acres of mixed-use commercial and residential space.

The ceremony strove to spotlight Edge-on-Hudson’s benefits to its surrounding community, notably that Sleepy Hollow is set to receive $11 million in contributions over the course of an eight-to-10-year construction timeline. In addition, the village will benefit from property-taxes levied on the developers, as well as payments for water and traffic-improvement infrastructure, the latter being of special concern to area residents and business owners. Although, the Edge-on-Hudson leadership also eyes this as a chance to encourage an influx of transplants from the nearby five boroughs.

“What we hope [the development] says is that we are looking to satisfy the huge unmet demand for urban housing in this area,” SunCal Executive Vice President Peter Johnson told Westchester. “It’s in suburbia, but it wants to feel urban. This caters to the millennials coming for the Brooklyn lifestyle, but [who] can’t afford it.”

Valued at more than $1 billion, the massive overhaul is set to feature 1,177 units of housing (including condominiums, townhomes, and apartments), restaurants, retail space, and even the first hotel in Sleepy Hollow’s history. And its advocates are quick to observe that it will be within walking distance from both the Phillipse Manor and Tarrytown Metro-North stations.

Sleepy Hollow Mayor Ken Wray acknowledges that Edge-on-Hudson’s vision might not immediately seem targeted to the village’s current renters and homeowners (median household income was $54,201 as of the 2010 census), sharing that, “It’s interesting because Westchester is seen as one of the wealthiest counties in the country, but that’s not all Westchester is.” But he and SunCal/Diversified are confident that “the property will continue to cater to the existing residence and attract newer folks,” due to both designated affordable housing and a planned public space that will include walking trails, informal parks, pedestrian amenities, plazas, patios, and an extension of the county’s Riverwalk to Kingsland Point Park.

Vertical construction on the first residences is scheduled for 2017.