West Fair Online

Apartment lofts open in former Yonkers library

 

By John Golden | July 22, 2014

 

Developers from New Jersey’s Fidelco Realty Group will be joined by Yonkers and state officials at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday to mark the completion of Library Lofts, a $10.6 million mixed-use redevelopment of the former Yonkers Public Library building on downtown Main Street.
 

The project, funded in part by a $5.45 million state grant from the Empire State Development Restore New York Communities Initiative, includes 23 rental loft apartments on the upper floors of the three-story building at 7 Main St. Deals Stores, a discount retailer affiliated with Dollar Tree Inc., leased and opened the project’s 9,000-square-foot ground-floor retail space about a year ago.
 

The luxury lofts include studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments, the residents of which have use of an outside patio area, rooftop terrace and a fitness center. Artwork from Biagio Civale and his Yonkers art gallery decorate the main residential lobby and common areas.

The redevelopment preserved the building’s historic character and restored its façade, a Fidelco Realty spokesman said. Built in the late 1920s on the former site of  the Hamilton Theater and Marshall Mathewson Department Store, the building just west of Getty Square was first leased by Genung’s Department Store in 1933, according to historical accounts. The property stood vacant since the central Yonkers library relocated to the new Riverfront Library in 2002.
 

The library redevelopment was planned as a smaller downtown project of Struever Fidelco Cappelli L.L.C., the city’s former master developer for downtown and waterfront redevelopment. SFC eventually disbanded as two of its partners struggled with heavy financial losses in real estate developments in recent years. Fidelco Realty, based in Milburn, N.J., continued the project in partnership with the city, which had been awarded the state revitalization grant in 2010.
 

Marc E. Berson, chairman of Fidelco Realty Group, in a press release called the Library Lofts opening “the proof of success demonstrating how public-private partnerships can have a tangible impact in stimulating community development. The forward-thinking approach has brought new residents and retail opportunities to Yonkers and new life for an historic but abandoned property.”

Library Lofts adjoins the site of a city public works project to create the Mill Street Courtyard, a public plaza and dining and entertainment space, on a short, dead-end street behind the former library. The city also is uncovering a second segment of the Saw Mill River at Mill Street as part of its downtown riverwalk development.

 

 

lohud Online

Yonkers' Library Lofts complete

 

By Ernie Garcia | July 16, 2014

 

The conversion of the former Yonkers Public Library building into apartments is complete.

Officials from the Fidelco Realty Group and Yonkers will cut the ribbon July 23 on Library Lofts, the 22-unit complex at 5 Main St., which already has a store operating on the ground floor.

The adaptive-reuse project was valued at $10.5 million and the developer got a $5.4 million historic-preservation grant from the Empire State Development Corporation.

The building opened as Genung's Department Store in the 1930s.

 

Directly behind the Library Lofts, workers broke ground in March on Phase II of the "daylighting" of the Saw Mill River at Mill Street.

 

That $8.3 million park will consist of a 100-foot unearthed portion of the river and close to 20,000 square feet of open public courtyard space.