LoHud May 8, 2013
Written by Theresa Juva-Brown and Khurram Saeed
Tappan Zee Constructors is eyeing several riverfront locations for construction staging areas, including land owned by Haverstraw where parts of the new bridge could assembled and floated to work sites, officials said.
The bridge project team has shown interest in the 10-acre, former site of the Empire State Chair Factory, but no “hard offers” have been made, Haverstraw village attorney Jay Hood Jr. said.
“We’d love to see the site go to use because it’s sitting there vacant,” he said. “The village is very interested in that because it would bring in very significant revenue.”
About 20 trucks using village streets would deliver bridge parts to the site likely every few weeks. After the parts were put together, they would be shipped downriver, Hood said.
Paul Adler, vice president of Rand Commercial Services, said TZC is also interested in the former Lovett plant property in Tomkins Cove. He said the riverfront property owned by NRG Energy also could be a good staging area for the project, but it remains unclear what NRG wants to do with it.
An NRG Energy spokesman told The Journal News in April the company was considering building a new, gas-fired generating station on the site, which has been vacant since the coal-fired generating station was demolished in 2008. A company spokesman did not return a call seeking comment on Tuesday.
On the other side of the river, project officials are looking for areas where they can load crews onto boats to take them to work sites. Tarrytown officials said TZC had proposed using a public section of RiverWalk Park in Tarrytown, but the plan would have required approval from state legislators and Scenic Hudson, which has rights to the walk.
TZC spokeswoman Carla Julian said that “at this point TZC has no plans to pursue the use of public parkland for staging operations.”
She said she could not discuss possible staging locations until agreements are finalized.
Sleepy Hollow administrator Anthony Giaccio said the River’s Edge property is being considered as place for staging workers. National Resources is currently developing the site as a condominium complex. It also owns Hudson Harbor, the neighboring riverfront condo complex in Tarrytown.
The company did not return requests seeking comment.
Long-term agreements for staging areas won’t be the first deals TZC makes with local property owners. Project crews are already using Petersen’s Boat Yard & Marina in Upper Nyack and the Tarrytown Boat and Yacht Club Marina, officials said.