Photo: L to R: Billy Procida and Brian Foley
Alter’s Bakery would open their ovens to neighbors on Cortlandt Street at Thanksgiving and many a turkey was baked as a sign of gratitude, thankfulness and community.
Urban renewal in the mid-1950’s forever changed Cortlandt Street as it did Valley Street and Depot Plaza. With the strength of bulldozers, gone was an under-the-hill neighborhood that catered to the senses, a neighborhood of unforced diversity long before the word was coined and used ad nauseum.
Well, there is a renewed interest in Cortlandt Street, and it started with the Village imposing a $92,000 fine on a landlord who owned multiple buildings there, with what could easily be defined as horrific living conditions. The landlord then filed for bankruptcy and the court moved for a sheriff sale in which Procida Funding & Advisors was the highest bidder.
On April 1st, the new owner took over 8 buildings and the results were quickly seen on several of the buildings with colorful painted facades, child guards and blinds on windows, rather than sheets and blankets covering them. Billy Procida, of Procida Funding & Advisors, is the new owner, and by his account he intends to beautify each property, and all by the end of September. His business focuses on real estate, financing, construction and development. The Company’s 30-page brochure is replete with reprints of articles from the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s New York Business, the New York Post, New York Magazine and multiple Real Estate publications. Each article addressed Procida’s work and accomplishments.
With Sleepy Hollow’s waterfront development, along with the two Manors and the Webber Park neighborhood, revitalization and beautification of the inner Village is an essential component to its future. After years of neglect there is a campaign of revitalization underway, and as with anything, it starts small, in this case one building at a time. In Billy Procida’s case he states, “I am coming in hard and fast to improve this neighborhood.”