The City of Peekskill is on its way to becoming “a destination.”
Those were the words of City Manager Matthew Alexander during a presentation by city officials at the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Thursday, March 6.
Alexander told attendees the city’s mission is to take a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) investment granted in 2019 and leverage it to extract maximum value from those state funds.
“Our end goal here is to create a place that its residents, business operators and visitors can all enjoy,” Alexander said. “We want to attract people to Peekskill to live, work, dine, shop, recreate, visit and return.”
He added officials want residents to enjoy the community they live in and to do that requires making investments continually.
In addition to the DRI, the city has secured millions of additional funding from the state, county and federal partners to advance infrastructure such as Fleischmann Pier, the riverfront, Pugsley Park and streetscape investments.
Last year the city secured the state’s Momentum Fund, a $10 million grant seeking to increase funding in the Mid-Hudson region for housing. The grant, matched by the city, aims to make improvements to Riverfront Green Park, Railroad Avenue improvements, and James Street and Nelson Ave garages.
The city also received a $300,000 grant at the end of 2024 for a comprehensive safety action plan that looks at how people cross and traverse the streets, pointing out that those connections could be improved.
One of the key destinations in the city, said Director of Planning Carol Samol, is the riverfront where Peekskill Riverfront Green Park sits.
“The Riverfront Green is absolutely a gem,” Samol said. “It is our town green. Last year we had 16 organized events with well over 15,000 attendees… Everyday people go down there to enjoy the playgrounds, to walk, to enjoy nature in the vista because it can’t be beat.”
To revitalize that gem, Samol said, requires investing in architecture such as the riverfront parking lot, housing, public art and amenities, sidewalks, sewer and water, and resiliency planning for flooding.
The city is also experimenting with bringing in boats to the newly renovated Fleischmann Pier, building on the connection between Peekskill and West Point, and marketing to potential visitors.
Alexander labeled the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater Peekskill’s number one destination, having sold 59,200 tickets in 2024, including 4,500 youth tickets. The theater, a recipient of DRI, has more than 100 shows planned for 2025, with 6,000 veterans and their families afforded tickets at no cost.
He also touted spending $1.4 million on Depew Park, with another $1.35 million Depew Park recently secured for a new project, a Restore New York Communities Initiative $2 million grant, and collaboration with the Youth Bureau and Peekskill City School District.
Planner Peter Erwin shared efforts to improve the downtown, such as upcoming wayfinding signage directing walkers and drivers to points of interest, transforming the Peekskill gazebo into a sculptural pavilion, and repairs to pedestrian signals, curbs and sidewalks in the district.
Erwin said that this year the city is bringing more artists to the table when it comes to public art. The recently formally established Peekskill Arts Council serves in an advisory capacity to the Common Council on such matters as categorizing sculptures and murals owned by the city.
Matthew Rudikoff, Peekskill Facilities Development Corporation Executive Director, shared that several retail storefronts have recently opened, including Bantam Tools, Valley Greens, Cloud 914, Copperhead Club, Cosmo’s Fresh Market, Peekskill Boba Tea, and El Sueño.
Rudikoff also announced the expected re-opening of Kathleen’s Tea Room, a long-standing business owned by Mayor Vivan McKenzie that has been under reconstruction since the building’s roof collapsed in June of 2021. McKenzie told the Herald last week a reopening date has not yet been determined.
