The St. Clair

Project Overview

Affordable housing on a remediated brownfield

The St. Clair is a 76-unit ground-up affordable housing development on Main Street in downtown Yonkers, Westchester County. rcRussell was engaged by a Westchester-based affordable housing developer, with Nexus Creative as design architect, to deliver the project from below-grade remediation through structural frame, building envelope, residential interiors, and amenity spaces — all built on a site that began as an inactive NYSDEC-listed brownfield.

Westchester affordable housing demand has consistently outpaced supply for two decades. Sites that remain available are rarely simple — they are the parcels other developers walked away from: contaminated, encumbered, hemmed in by historic context. The St. Clair is exactly that kind of site, redeveloped by a team willing to do the remediation work others avoid.

What rcRussell delivered was a full-cycle brownfield-to-finished-housing program: regulatory remediation, soldier-pile excavation bracing, foundation pour, frame, fit-out, and amenity spaces — without disturbing the historic stone facade on the adjacent parcel that gives the site its character.

The St. Clair is a brownfield site that became 76 units of Westchester affordable housing. Every phase — from NYSDEC closure through the rebar pour beside the historic stone facade — was sequenced to deliver a clean, code-compliant building on a site that started encumbered.

rcRussell Management Approach

The Challenge

Building cleanly on a contaminated parcel

The St. Clair site entered the NYSDEC Brownfield Cleanup Program before a shovel ever broke ground. Regulatory remediation had to clear and close out under DEC oversight, with every soil-removal, vapor-barrier, and engineering control documented to the program's standards. Only then could vertical construction begin.

Below grade, the site demanded a soldier-pile and horizontal-strut excavation bracing system to keep the dig stable next to adjacent structures — including a preserved historic stone facade that had to remain untouched through the entire excavation and pour sequence. Above grade, the building had to meet Westchester County affordable housing standards while delivering finishes that read as market-rate to its future residents. The brownfield pathway and the affordability mandate combined to make this a project where cost discipline and regulatory rigor had to coexist on the same schedule.

Our Approach

From regulatory closure to residents moving in

NYSDEC Brownfield Remediation

Full coordination with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Brownfield Cleanup Program. Soil management, engineering controls, and vapor barriers documented and signed off so the site could move from contaminated parcel to buildable lot under regulatory closure.

Soldier-Pile Excavation Bracing

A soldier-pile and horizontal-strut bracing system supported the deep excavation while protecting adjacent structures — including a preserved historic stone facade on the boundary line that could not be disturbed. Vibration monitoring and survey controls ran continuously through dig and pour.

Ground-Up Structural Delivery

Foundation pour, rebar mat, structural frame, building envelope, and weather-tight close-in delivered on an affordable-housing budget without sacrificing buildable quality. Sequenced to keep trades stacked and the schedule moving through Westchester's weather cycles.

Resident-Ready Interiors & Amenities

Typical-unit kitchens, lobby, community room, fitness room, laundry, and outdoor patio delivered to a level that reads market-rate while staying inside the Westchester Affordable Housing cost framework. Finishes specified for durability over a long affordable-housing operating horizon.