A 128-unit apartment building rising on the site of a long-vacant Yonkers school has a new lease on life, after a $28 million construction loan cleared the way to restart work that had been frozen for years. The eight-story building at 70 Jackson Street, between Jackson Street and Groshon Avenue in Southwest Yonkers, will include 24 studios, 64 one-bedroom units, and 40 two-bedroom apartments once finished, with roughly 176 parking spaces spread across three levels.
The site was previously home to Public School 19, a 97-year-old brick schoolhouse that closed in 1991 and sat empty for more than two decades before the City of Yonkers sold the parcel to developer Alma Realty in 2013 for $676,900, according to Daily Voice. The sale followed a competitive city process to return vacant municipal land to the tax rolls, but it wasn't uncontested: a local nonprofit, the Community Governance and Development Council, had submitted a rival proposal and organized neighborhood rallies pushing for the site to become a community hub with a school, daycare, and fitness center rather than private housing, the outlet reported. The old school building was ultimately demolished in the mid-2010s, according to New York YIMBY.
A Design Years in the Making
Meridian Design Associates designed the building, which is planned as a 150,000-square-foot structure with a U-shaped massing clad in white and gray paneling, balconies lining the building's wings, and decorative pediments, per New York YIMBY's report. Renderings show tree-lined sidewalks and shrubbery surrounding the property, including one depicting the building's eastern elevation facing Groshon Avenue. The same outlet reports construction originally began in 2018 but stalled after completing only a small portion of the reinforced concrete superstructure, for financial reasons.
Those financial troubles trace back to a 2020 lawsuit. Affiliates of Alma Realty filed suit in Westchester County Supreme Court that August, alleging construction contractors diverted funds and contributed to major delays on both the Yonkers project and a separate multi-million-dollar development in Peekskill, according to Westfair Communications. The site had gotten its initial financial backing in February 2018, when the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency granted final project approval, authorizing a $360,000 mortgage recording tax exemption and an $830,000 sales tax exemption on construction materials to help make the build viable.
The Loan That Restarted the Project
Commercial advisory firm Arrow Real Estate Advisors arranged the new $28 million construction loan from BHI in late July, coordinating parallel approvals with both the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency and the Yonkers Economic Development Corp., according to the New York Real Estate Journal. New York YIMBY reports the deal was arranged by Schmuckler, Morris Betesh, Jacob Petrovic, and Jonah Schultz. Jacob Schmuckler said pairing two institutional partners positions the project for long-term success while delivering high-quality market-rate and affordable housing, per the outlet's report.
No revised construction timeline has been announced for when the building will be finished, New York YIMBY notes. The project will dedicate 10 percent of its units to affordable housing, meeting the baseline set-aside required under Yonkers' Affordable Housing Ordinance for large multifamily developments — a threshold Mayor Mike Spano has proposed raising to 12 percent citywide, according to The Yonkers Post.
Part of a Broader Southwest Yonkers Push
The project's revival lands amid a wider building wave in the neighborhood. Just blocks away, near the former Mulford Gardens public housing complex, city leaders broke ground in July on Yonkers Bets Big On Park Square, a $185 million, 340-unit mixed-use development. The Yonkers Post also reports the city has approved or advanced more than 3,000 new residential units in 2026, part of a broader real estate expansion across its downtown and transit-accessible corridors.
Alma Realty, the developer behind 70 Jackson Street, was founded in 1988 by Efstathios “Steve” Valiotis and is headquartered in Long Island City. According to LoopNet, the company manages a portfolio exceeding 146 properties and more than 6,700 residential units valued at $1.4 billion as of 2025. For a neighborhood that has watched a vacant schoolhouse sit half-built for years, the new financing marks the clearest sign yet that 70 Jackson Street is finally moving toward completion.
