Dive Brief:

• Developers SunCal and Diversified Realty Advisors and local officials are hoping that the $1 billion "Edge-on-Hudson" mixed-use development project launched Wednesday will breathe life back into the once-industrial Westchester County, NY, village of Sleepy Hollow, according to The New York Times.
• The 100-acre site of a former General Motors plant shuttered in 1996 will soon be home to 1,177 residential units, 200,000 square feet of commercial space and a hotel with 140 rooms, all situated along the Hudson River. The development will also include 60 units of affordable housing.
• Village officials are willing to deal with issues of possible gentrification and an increased burden on local schools in return for the much-needed tax revenue that will fill the budgetary hole that GM and years of waiting for new development on the site left behind, according to The Times.

Dive Insight:

Just the purchase of the property increased Sleepy Hollow’s tax revenue by more than $650,000, making it possible to lower the property tax rate for the entire village.

As part of the $39.5 million purchase deal, developers will also include 24 acres of public space — including parkland and trails — connecting the green space to a 51-mile path along the Hudson River. In addition, the village will also get a 30-acre parcel of land, which will be home to its new Department of Public Works building and a community ballfield, plus more than $11 million toward construction of the park area.

The first developer, G.M. Roseland, pulled out of a planned development on the site over public concerns about the impact that such a large development would have on the community. At the same time, the 2008 crash hit. Now, however, the project is back on track, with contractors kickstarting construction with a new temporary bridge to transport heavy equipment to the site.

Concerns over how a development will affect an existing community are commonplace. In Washington, DC, the Major League Soccer franchise D.C. United is building a new 20,000-seat, $300 million waterfront soccer stadium in the Buzzard Point neighborhood along the Anacostia River. The DC community is excited about the development and tax revenues the project will bring to the area, but some local residents have protested construction because they are concerned about the effect the project will have on the environment and the area’s children, elderly and ailing residents.