Sleepy Hollow Former GM Plant Property

[x635 4,066]

I'm curious.........why hasn't anyone built anything there.....you'd think developers would be tripping over each other for the waterfront property to build a mixed use development, and Sleepy Hollow could get a surge of revenue.

I would think it would be held up now, it seems perfect for the new TZ construction staging area.

What am I missing here?

[TheNewLadder32 49]

I found this article but its from 2007 so I don't know if anything has began to happen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/realestate/11wczo.html?_r=0

[shfirefighter 19]

Let me help you guys out alittle bit, when Sleepy Hollow when to start developing on the GM lot Tarrytown made a big stink that it would cause a massive increase in traffic and they went to court that was 2 years ago. Finally after the court decided it was crazy they threw the case out. Now they are dredging out the riverside to remove contaminated soil once the soil is removed building can start.

[peterose313 345]

Let me help you guys out alittle bit, when Sleepy Hollow when to start developing on the GM lot Tarrytown made a big stink that it would cause a massive increase in traffic and they went to court that was 2 years ago. Finally after the court decided it was crazy they threw the case out. Now they are dredging out the riverside to remove contaminated soil once the soil is removed building can start.

GM is actually paying for this too, the cost is estimated at $10 million and will take 2 years to complete. They were/are going to be removing about 0.8 acres worth of sediment.

Does anyone know if they are using the Fort Edwards site for offloading the sediment?

[WAS967 97]

Where is Ft. Edwards? And what do they do with the sediment once it's dredged? What is it contaminated with?

[shfirefighter 19]

Where is Ft. Edwards? And what do they do with the sediment once it's dredged? What is it contaminated with?

Its contaminated with oil, paint and stuff from the plant just stuff thats horrible for humans and i have no clue what there gonna do with the soil clean it maybe? lol

[peterose313 345]

where is Ft. Edwards? And what do they do with the sediment once it's dredged? What is it contaminated with?

It's a site they are using to dispense the sediment. It's 50 miles north of Albany. There's a barge unloading facility, sediment dewatering and treatment facilities as well as temporary staging areas. DEP acquired about 110 acres of vacant farmland. That was part of the GE development for the Hudson River Dredging Project. I don't know if GM will be using that same site or a different location.

http://www.hudsondredging.com/about-the-project/

[Alwaysinheat 26]

The most common way to remove contaminated sediment is by burning it!

[Bugler83 7]

To bad that Tarrytown held that up in court, cause it was one of the 3 sites that the New York Jets put a bid in to buy the land to build a stadium

[Bnechis 3,961]

To bad that Tarrytown held that up in court, cause it was one of the 3 sites that the New York Jets put a bid in to buy the land to build a stadium

There is no way that Rt.9 could handle that traffic

[Bugler83 7]

There is no way that Rt.9 could handle that traffic

Agreed, it could hardly handle the GM plant Traffic

[helicopper 1,050]

There is no way that Rt.9 could handle that traffic

Not a problem. Not that many people go to their games anymore anyway.

[INIT915 1,119]

To bad that Tarrytown held that up in court, cause it was one of the 3 sites that the New York Jets put a bid in to buy the land to build a stadium

Agreed, it could hardly handle the GM plant Traffic

If you agree that if couldn't handle the extra traffic, then why was it too bad that Tarrytown held it up in Court? Seems counterintuitive. Might end up being a blessing that Tarrytown held it up in Court.

[tommyguy 104]

I lived in Sleepy Hollow for several years and attended some of the meetings about the redevelopment at Village Hall.

There have been many problems. Early on Sleepy Hollow mayor Philip Zegarelli said that New York State was taking a long time to approve the process. That he wasn't worried about getting it approved just that the process was very time-consuming.

At first GM wanted to develop the site themselves. Then after several false starts, they decided to instead sell the site to a developer.

Then there was site remediation. The work was done but NY EPA would not approve it. It had to be revisited.

Then the Tarrytown lawsuit. I think one result of that was the project was scaled down a bit.

By then it was 2008 and the project was no longer financially feasible. A commercial property owner I know in the area said that another problem was, while GM and NYS procrastinated, private developers bought nearby property (one being the site of the old Cooney Bros. asphalt plant) and erected condos. That pretty much changed the atmosphere for the bigger project.

I'm not sure where it stands now but I'm sure that eventually it will get done.

[x635 4,066]

Thanks for the insight, guys! I am fascinated by the history of the plant, and continue to look at how much potential it has and wish that I was a millionare developer.

How much did North Tarrytown lose in tax dollar by the plant closing? And how much do they continue to lose (projected)?

Considering it is riverfront property, with extensive Metro-North and Amtrak potential and being just south of Scarboro, I'm just suprised that developers like Forest City Ratner (Barclays Center-Atlantic Railyards development, Yonkers Ridge Hill, etc) , Capelli, etc weren't tripping over one another to get this, even after the economy turned. Must be some really, really expensive toxic stuff to clean up.

And wasn' there, at one time at the height of NASCAR, rumor of a track being built there? That was the craziest rumor that I heard.

[tommyguy 104]

I don't remember the exact figures I heard discussed but it was a tax loss to the Village of Sleepy Hollow in the neighborhood of $1 million per year. About half the village budget. That's when I lived there and I have to say, everybody criticizes local governments but they took a huge hit and somehow worked their way out of it.

I remember attending village meetings where Mayor Philip Zegarelli said that the village would survive and he did seem to me like a pretty capable guy. And a pretty good politician!

One big problem with the site is they had a battery and paint shop there for decades. If you want build you have to get EPA approval. They go in there and they find all kinds stuff. The clean-up costs really mounted up. Much higher than the original estimates.

I don't remember the NASCAR plan -- maybe I do vaguely -- but in the 1990s Donald Trump made a proposal, a shopping mall and hotel. GM turned The Don down and he was very miffed. (I don't think too many people in Sleepy Hollow cried over that!)

Then all the problems GM had with their near-bankruptcy slowed things down, too. I heard for a while there, nobody could get a decision about anything from GM. I'm not sure they even still have a developer lined up. Roseland of New Jersey finally pulled out I think.

I always felt that the problem with the site was, it was a beautiful piece of residential property because it was somewhat isolated, but that meant it was kind of risky for retail. I don't see it working as a Ridge Hill-style development. It's too far from major roads. Yet all the plans have been for mixed use.

[firecapt32 282]

I remember several fire at the plant including a propane explosion in Nov of '68 and a fire in the paint section in early '70 I believe. The 68 explosion causes injuries and damaged apparatus but luckly no one was killed.

I also remember before the expansion of GM the hugh ball field--football seperate baseball field--several tennis courts--5 -or 6 smaller ball fields for little league. Lots of room for us kids to play and not get in trouble--kinda

[efermann 28]

I have no idea where things stand for that site in Sleepy Hollow, but not for nothing, any re-development of that property is likely to incur additional insurance costs at this point. FEMA re-did their flood insurance maps in the not too distant past (February?) and the cost of flood insurance is going to increase incrementally unless the buildings are above their newly determined flood heights.

I have a friend who owns a property in Margate (NJ) who plans on selling and then building a new second home. They are going to have to raise their next 2nd home so many feet in order to avoid the additional flood insurance rates.

This link (http://fema.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=2f0a884bfb434d76af8c15c26541a545) pulls up the new advisory levels for flood insurance. Feel free to zoom in on any costal region to see the new advisory levels. Zoom in on the Sleep Hollow site in question here and you can see it's in zone ABFE: V and ABFE: A (those abreviations stand for the flood zone levels). Click in any of the pink areas and then click on the Frequently Asked Questions. Read some of that information...it's eye-opening, especially for future development or anyone who owns property within the re-classified zones.

My understanding is that it will be up to the local government on if they will accept the new zones, but I could be wrong. In any case, I don't think there really is a way to get around it, even if the local govt doesn't accept the new zones.

This doesn't really get at the question of "why hasn't anyone done something there", but might shed some light on why the property might sit for a longer time now.