Breathtaking views, fine restaurants and waterfront parks are drawing more and more locals and tourists alike to the Hudson’s riverfront.
More than a half-dozen new residential developments are currently underway on both sides of the river in the Lower Hudson Valley, transforming former manufacturing hubs into waterfront destinations with fine restaurants, parks and luxury apartments with river views.
The projects include a new development in Yonkers, which continues to revamp a waterfront once lined with empty industrial plants. In Haverstraw, formerly one of the nation’s premier brick-making centers, the second phase of the Harbors-at-Haverstraw project is underway. And Sleepy Hollow is moving forward with a $1 billion plan to develop the site of the former General Motors assembly plant with 1,000 condominiums, parks and even a hotel.
“For many years after you had this collapse of commerce along the waterfront you went several decades before developers, people in general, felt comfortable going back to the Hudson River from a recreational standpoint,” said Laurence Gottlieb, president and CEO of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation. ”Now you’re drawing folks back to areas that had been mothballed.”
“Communities have been making those investments because the younger generations that they’re trying to attract, whether it’s millennials or other folks, want to do more things outdoors,” Gottlieb said. “They want to do the bike trails. They want to get off a bike trail and find a craft brewery or a tapas bar. They’re craving these goods and services. And so all of these pieces are kind of naturally falling into place and developers are capitalizing on that.”