LoHud October 15, 2013 Written by Theresa Juva-Brown

The Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project is giving new life to vacant commercial properties that have languished since the Great Recession.

The site of the former Lovett power plant in Stony Point, for instance, sat unused for years before bridge builder Tappan Zee Constructors recently signed a lease with NRG Energy to assemble bridge pieces there. As part of the deal, Stony Point could collect up to $500,000 in permit fees over the next five years.

It’s been a similar situation in West Nyack, where the former Journal News printing plant at 160 N. Route 303 hasn’t had a tenant in three years, said Timothy Hauser of the Hauser Bros., the real estate investment company that owns the site.

That will change this spring, when state police and the New York State Thruway Authority temporarily move from Tarrytown to the 42,000-square foot warehouse that is currently being renovated.

Tappan Zee Constructors is relocating those operations because it plans to tear down the current barracks/Thruway offices on North Broadway and use the area for bridge construction equipment.

“We’re giving them a piece of property at a fair market value rate, and they are taking the expenses off my lap that I have to struggle to pay,” Hauser said of the parcel on Route 303 near Thruway Exit 12. Just before the deal was reached in April, the asking price for the warehouse was $6.25 per square foot, according to the website of Rand Commercial Services, which was involved with the agreement.

Hauser said the five-year lease could be extended, but for now the site’s future remains wide open.

“It’s one of the best locations in the entire county for any type of business — a car dealer, hotel. It’s a discussion already,” he said.

The recent deals, even if they are for just five years, help the local real estate industry but also the region’s optimism about the overall economy, said Paul Adler, vice president of Rand Commercial.

“People are understanding that this is the beginning of the growth,” he said. “What we’re seeing is just enough to nudge us out of this recession.”

“There is income, and there is enough time to plan what to do after five years now that the landlord has cash flow,” he added. “These 5-year injections of confidence in the market are going to spur smart growth.”

The new bridge, especially the thousands of workers the project will bring, helped convince Howard Josephs to purchase a commercial parcel in Nyack last month.

Josephs, a partner with Josephs Group, bought slightly less than an acre near Route 59 and Waldron Avenue.

A gas station and fast food joint once operated there, but the site has been dormant for years, he said.

After the land is remediated this winter, he plans to build a 5,000-square foot restaurant and retail center.

He declined to disclose how much he paid for the site.

“It’s a very busy corner, and we see it as the gateway to Nyack,” he told The Journal News. “I think the bridge (project) will definitely bring a lot of people for a number of years.”

The project is also giving a lift to property owners in Westchester.

Tappan Zee Constructors moved into its main office on White Plains Road in Tarrytown this spring and is leasing a satellite office on the grounds of Hudson Harbor, a residential complex on the Tarrytown waterfront.

Farrokh Hormozi, an economics professor at Pace University in Pleasantville, said property owners who are leasing instead of selling is a sign that they expect their assets to gain significant value after the new bridge is completed. He said more businesses and people will want to live and work near the future Tappan Zee. “It’s all facilitated by a more comfortable ride across the bridge,” he said.

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