"Generation Yonkers" regional advertising campaign spends $700,000 to promote benefits of the city of Yonkers; Yonkers IDA believes 2015 will see continued momentum in both comm'l. and residential sectors

With $153 million invested and 500 full-time jobs created in the past year, the Yonkers IDA believes 2015 will see continued momentum in both the commercial and residential sectors. The city of Yonkers is now into the second year of its "Generation Yonkers" regional advertising campaign, which has spent $700,000 in web, print and radio commercials to promote the benefits of the city - especially its downtown waterfront. "We're seeing the traffic and we're seeing the increased developer and business owner interest," said mayor Mike Spano who chairs the city's Industrial Development Agency. "The simple fact is that many businesses can no longer afford New York City, so they look for the closest alternatives. Our message is that the best alternative is Yonkers." The advertising campaign, originated by the Westchester-based Thompson & Bender advertising agency, is also aimed at millennials who are attracted to the city's edgy downtown. Lofts, waterfront apartments, and repurposed industrial space populate the downtown. It has a Brooklyn feel, but without the Brooklyn prices. The campaign also notes that the downtown Metro North station links the city to Grand Central Station in under a half hour. According to Spano, when the husband and wife team of Daniel Wolf and Maya Lin - he an art collector and she one of the nation's premier artists and architects - bought the former city jail on the waterfront so they could transform it into a gallery a year ago, he knew the city's effort to rebrand itself was working. "Since then we have had two other nationally known artists purchase old buildings in Yonkers for galleries and workspace," said Spano. "Artists tend to see an area's potential before anyone else. They are the vanguard of new vitality, and the vanguard has arrived in Yonkers." The city is also close to completing phase III of the Saw Mill River Daylighting project, which is exposing a the long-covered over Saw Mill River and making it the center of a linear park. "It's changing the look of the downtown," said Ken Jenkins who is president of the Yonkers IDA, "We are seeing interest from major developers who want to build high rise apartments overlooking the river. That is something that couldn't have happened a few years ago because you couldn't see the river. It ran through a flume under a parking lot." The RXR Corp., a major New York City developer, is in the midst of the approval process for a high rise development alongside the new river park. Although Yonkers is putting a major effort into development the downtown waterfront, a great deal is happening throughout the city, which at a population of 195,000 is the state's fourth largest. One of the recent trends has been hotel development, with three nationally flagged brands beginning construction in the last year alone. "Westchester is a business and leisure destination in its own right these days," said Spano, "The added advantage that Yonkers has is that a hotel here gives you access not only to Westchester and the Hudson Valley, but also to New York City. Besides three highways that run to Manhattan, we have five commuter train stations that serve the city." According to Spano, the city continues to be aggressive in offering incentives to developers and businesses seeking to locate in Yonkers. "There are two things we offer; First, we want your business. So if it means we need to work with you on zoning or land use issues, if we can we will. Second, we understand the value of incentives. We assume a new business is coming here for the long haul. So we are willing to provide aggressive incentives for the early years, recognizing that once established a business will provide jobs and tax payments for many years to come," said Spano. The Yonkers IDA prides itself on moving applications quickly through the process , recognizing that developers value certainty as soon as possible when it comes to putting together the financial package of a project. "Our timeline is measured in days and weeks, not weeks and months," said Jenkins. Yonkers is seeing a growing number of New York City companies, faced with the need for expansion, choosing Yonkers rather than staying in the city. "They want to escape the higher cost of rent and labor, and are also concerned about the increased regulatory climate in New York City," said Spano, "If they want to come to Yonkers we are all for it, especially since we often hear that the other choices are Connecticut or New Jersey. An investment in Yonkers is also an investment in New York State. That's important."