Groundbreaking: $64.5M Project to Transform Former Convent Site in Peekskill

PEEKSKILL, NY — Work will begin soon on a $64.5 million mixed-use project to transform the former St. Mary’s convent property on Fort Hill in Peekskill. The developer and Peekskill and Westchester County officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday. What's planned is a resort-style tourist destination featuring luxury rentals apartments as well as a spa, inn and restaurant.

Called Fort Hill Apartments at the Abbey Inn, the Ginsburg Development Companies project is located on the newly dedicated Fort Hill Road at John Street. The new buildings will complement the existing stone-and-brick structures, which were designed by prominent architects of the 1800s.

The project will feature 178 luxury one-, two- and three-bedroom rental apartments in three 5-story buildings arranged in a quad around a wooded knoll. Amenities will include a fitness center, club room and outdoor pool. Some of the apartments will have Hudson River views.

The development will also include the Abbey Inn, a 42-room hotel with restaurant and spa located in the former St. Mary’s Convent building. The restaurant will feature outdoor dining with Hudson River views. The Chapel will become a special place for gatherings and events.

“The City of Peekskill has been working diligently with Martin Ginsburg and GDC for quite some time to develop a first rate, high quality complex on Fort Hill. The City is thrilled that this project is coming to fruition in 2017, and we are confident that it will highlight Peekskill as the premier ‘go-to’ destination in the Hudson Valley,” said Peekskill Mayor Frank Catalina.

Leasing is expected to begin in the spring of 2018.

GDC’s is donating 52 acres to expand the historic Fort Hill Park which will feature a variety of existing and new hiking trails. The public park will include new features including an observation deck with breathtaking views of the Hudson River.

“Fort Hill will become an important tourist destination in the Hudson Valley, attracting people from New York City and throughout the tri-state region,” Martin Ginsburg, Founder and Principal of GDC, predicted in an announcement about the groundbreaking. “Fort Hill Apartments at the Abbey Inn will offer a unique residential experience fully integrated into a destination inn and spa resort. Peekskill is being discovered as a unique historical rivertown with an influx of restaurants and art centric venues. Fort Hill and the Abbey will add an exclamation point."

Ginsburg noted that development of Fort Hill will include preserving existing historical architecture on the site while combining it with new architecture and hiking trails as well as a first-class restaurant.

“This is a very exciting project for our company. We are creating something very special and unique to this market. We anticipate the same strong demand that we have experienced at our Harbor Square development in Ossining, which is now over 90% leased,” he said.

In the past 12 months, GDC has opened four major luxury rental projects in Westchester County – 330-unit River Tides at Greystone in Yonkers; 188-unit Harbor Square on the Ossining waterfront; 66-unit The Lofts on Saw Mill River in Hastings-on-Hudson, and The Metro, a 124-unit rental building in downtown White Plains. GDC is also the developer of theRiverside at Harbors-at-Haverstraw, a 106-unit luxury rental building in Rockland County that opened two years ago.

“Congratulations Ginsburg Development Companies on the start of another great property here in Westchester,” said Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino. “The Fort Hill Apartments at the Abbey Inn will not only attract more visitors, but the region’s best and brightest to call Westchester home.”

GDC is completing construction of 1177@Greystone, a new 55-unit luxury rental apartment building located in the Greystone neighborhood of Yonkers, which was damaged last month in a fire.

SEE:

• Fire at 2nd Luxury Rental Development in Yonkers
  
• Luxury Rentals on the Hudson: One Opens, Another to Break Ground