SFC’s LDA Made Available to Public, But Negotiations Continue

To view the latest draft of SFC’s LDA, follow the link below: http://www.cityofyonkers.com/index.aspx?page=2025

This LDA is the one that the City Council reviewed over the weekend, but it is unlikely that it will be the final version, as the five votes needed for its passage have yet to be secured, even with recent SFC concessions to build a residential tower at Chicken Island and to build a more substantially complete stadium.

The votes of three on the council – Dee Barbato, John Murtagh and Liam McLaughlin — will be the deciding factors on whetheror not the SFC/LDA will pass.

The developers, and the mayor, need all three votes in order to secure five votes for its passage, which will be combined with Council President Chuck Lesnick’s and Councilwoman Pat McDow’s votes.

Barbato and McLaughlin have asked for detailed revenue figures from the minimum development proposed in the LDA of around $400 million. They have also asked for a detailed list of incentives and infrastructure improvements to be paid for by the city, in the hopes of making a informed decision on whether or not the project is good for the city.

Several on the council have also asked for more time to review the LDA, so the finanical deadline of May 20th from SFC is no longer an issue.

Several new developments were uncovered at the council’s Real Estate Committee meeting last night:

The council is not even close to voting the LDA out of the Real Estate Committee for a  vote up or down — time is needed to read and review the LDA, and to try tonegotiate terms that could win over McLaughlin, Barbarto and Murtagh — remember all three are needed, if, as expected, Sandy Annabi and Joan Gronowski vote no.

This will require serious negotiations and more concessions on SFC’s part. The sale price of city land and properties, and the two-year hold that SFC will have on the city before they are required to build are two issues of concern.

Eminent domain (ED) also came up at the Real Estate Committee meeting, with concerns raised by Gronowski and Murtagh (Murtagh has submitted a resolution against any ED use for devleopment projects with incentives). While Lesnick explained that this deal always had an ED component, if it’s inclusion means that Murtagh votes no on the LDA, the deal’s dead.

Several members of the City Council met with Mayor Phil Amicone earlier in the day, with no resolution. While the mayor wants the council to vote on the LDA, Lesnick realizes that there aren’t five votes, not even close to passing it at this time.

So we wait …

Five Council Votes for SFC’s LDA By No Means a Done Deal

don't make your reservations at the new Yonkers stadium yet

 

Rising Times has learned that the City Council’s review of the new, and final, SFC Land Disposition Agreement (LDA) includes requests by councilmembers Liam McLaughlin and Dee Barbato for revenue and expense estimates for the minimum development required under the LDA, which now stands at around $400 million.

Barbato and McLaughlin are two on the council who want to know whether the final LDA is a good financial deal for the City of Yonkers. Under the original $1.6 billion downtown development plan,  SFC was to receive $250 million in incentives, including $160 million in infrastructure improvement, and up to $90 million in Yonkers Industrial Development Agency (IDA)  incentives.

Now, however, under the minimum development agreement in the final LDA, some on the council are questioning whether SFC should receive the same benefit based on the $400 minimum development as they would have received under the $1.6 billion plan.

SFC and the mayor would argue that SFC is moving forward and plans to eventually build the entire $1.6 billion project.

All of these questions need to be answered quickly, because the council is under an SFC credit deadline of May 20; the LDA must be approved by then.

Five council votes required to approve the LDA (because of the land transfer),  and right now – there ain’t five votes.

Councilwomen Sandy Annabi and Joan Gronowski both appear headed towards no votes. Council President Chuck Lesnick, and councilmembers Pat McDow and John Murtagh are leaning towards a yes vote.

That leaves McLaughlin and Barbato, with both votes needed to get to five to pass the LDA.

Council Doesn’t Get Final SFC LDA; Will Receive Tomorrow

The Yonkers City Council Real Estate Committee meeting held last night was supposed to be an opportunity for the council, and the public, to get a look at the revised, or final, Land Disposition Agreement  (LDA) for the SFC downtown development project. It was also supposed to be a public hearing, where audience members could comment for or against the LDA, which gives SFC wide latitude and control over most of the downtown, while binding them to a minimum development agreement which would require them to build a scaled back $400 million project.

Several sources have said that the new agreement calls for SFC to complete the construction of a minor league stadium at Chicken Island, and for SFC to construct one residential tower, also at Chicken Island, in addition to their prior proposal to build a 300,000-square-foot retail center, new fire headquarters and a parking garage, as well as daylighting the Saw Mill River at Getty Square.

This deal was said to win over the support of Councilman Liam McLaughlin and Councilwoman Pat McDow. McLaughlin wanted a completed stadium built, and McDow wants affordable housing to be built, onsite, as part of the plan.

But no final committments of support from the Council have been made until they see the final LDA.

… Once we get it we will get it to you.

The council is under another deadline for SFC, May 24, so that SFC can continue to work on getting financing for the project.

A council vote of 5-2 last week to permit SFC to get a $4+ million HUD loan is said to be an indication of how the council will vote on the LDA.

But with this City Council, one never knows until the votes are cast.

Councilwoman Gronowski Explains ‘No’ Vote on SFC FEIS

Read this week’s Home News & Times to read our interview with Coucilwoman Joan Gronowski concerning her “no” vote on the SFC Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).

You can download the full paper in PDF format at www.RisingMediaGroup.com. The story is on page 3.

 

 

Councilwoman Joan Gronowski