Park Place Tower is showing that, despite challenges of high development and financing costs, market rate rentals can succeed in Peekskill. 

Steven Irizarry, the licensed real estate salesperson with the Irizarry Team at Serhant, the leasing agent for the building provided an update to the Herald on Jan. 6. 

The eight-floor building on Brown Street opened in the spring and was 20 percent leased in May. It has since soared.

“We are about 71 percent leased out at the moment, we’re almost done,” Irizarry said. “Initial leases were signed and moved in for April 1 (2024). So we’re hoping to be done by the end of Q1. Things have been moving pretty well.”

So well, Irizarry said, that the building has no studio apartments or two bedrooms available. Those who had interest in two bedrooms are being transitioned to larger one bedrooms and three bedroom apartments, which Irizarry said saw a lot of renters in the month of December. The apartments rent from about $2,425 to $2,700 for one bedroom to about $3,450 to $4,200 for three bedrooms. 

“The studio apartments are so large that some people initially coming in to see the one bedrooms felt comfortable moving into the studio because it was a very similar footprint to what you might see as a one bedroom apartment in the city, Yonkers or in the boroughs,” Irizarry said.

Interest in the building has come from a variety of places including Northern Westchester, Yonkers, Ossining, Upper East Side, the Bronx, New Jersey, the Midwest and the South, as well as several people employed at West Point who reside in the building now.

“They’re coming into Peekskill because the walking distance to and from all restaurants, lounges, coffee shops, things of that nature [has walkability],” Irizarry said. “Everything is within a five to ten minute walk. So people really love that aspect because they’re coming from other towns that have things a little bit further away.”

Irizarry said they are planning and hoping that the building will be close to, if not completely, leased out by the end of the first quarter. Once they hit the 80 percent threshold Irizarry would like to hold a happy hour for residents in the community room, yoga night and pilates, and continue homebuyer seminars.

“We’re strong believers that it’s important that residents get a chance to mingle and interact with other neighbors,” he said. “And some of the best ways to do it is over a casual drink and maybe some finger food.”

Once the building gets closer to capacity and the weather gets warmer, Irizarry said he would love to have local business owners and local politicians come by for a formal grand opening launch since they weren’t able to do so before due to construction. 

They recently finished work on a 15,000 foot outdoor terrace off the first floor and are still seeking to fill up one corner retail space to locate a restaurant.

“We anticipate continuing to have great working relationships with the local businesses and continue to build relationships with more businesses in the neighborhood,” Irizarry said. “We really love the building and a lot of people love the building.”

James Guerriero, a developer with a proposed project at 201 N. Division St. told the Herald on Wednesday, Jan. 22 he found the leasing process at Park Place Tower encouraging but not enough to guarantee the success of future projects, especially market rate.

“Beyond long entitlement timelines, higher interest rates, stricter lending requirements, and higher taxes and insurance, the true cost drivers are land and construction which remain at much higher levels than were present pre-Covid,” Guerriero said.

He added that workforce and affordable housing projects, with subsidy and alternative funding sources will continue to dominate new housing starts for the foreseeable future.

“Streamlined approvals, parking reform, and PILOTs for projects of merit are all tools to combat the housing crisis,” Guerriero said. “Development of market rate housing will directly increase the affordability of all housing.”

Another market rate rental building is being brought to Peekskill on Grove and South Streets and is looking to welcome first renters this summer.