Theatrical sound company plans addition, expansion in Yonkers

YONKERS — A theatrical sound company’s latest expansion plan includes building a new metal-working shop, renovating its offices — and opening a car wash.

On Wednesday night, Sound Associates will seek approval from the city Planning Board to renovate its building at 979 Saw Mill River Road and construct a 1,270-square-foot addition.

The hearing comes after the company, which builds audiovisual systems for Broadway shows, celebrated the grand opening of its new Star Auto Spa at 999 Saw Mill River Road on Saturday.

The planned addition will house a larger “fabrication shop” used to make metal speaker frames and mounts, microphone stands, shipping boxes and other mechanical components for the company’s electronic equipment. The current shop, situated closer to the southern end of the facility, would be renovated into new offices and conference rooms as part of the $2.2 million project.

The company hopes to begin construction next month and complete work by May 2012.

The project is the latest in a series of expansions by the family-owned company that first set up shop at 979 Saw Mill River Road in the late 1980s. Sound Associates bought the adjoining building in 2006, and has gradually moved into that space as former tenants, including a coffee distributor and a cabinet maker, have moved out.

The 2010 purchase of the car wash facility will eventually give Sound Associates more space to expand in the future, said CEO Richard Fitzgerald.

“Now, as we grow, we can make whatever we need to make out of this campus,” which now runs from 979 to 999 Saw Mill River Road, Fitzgerald said last week.

In the meantime, he said, Star Auto Spa will be the car-wash tenant operated under outside management. It replaced the previous car-wash tenant, Regency Auto Spa, which moved out last year.

Also at the 5:30 p.m. Planning Board meeting at City Hall, Golden Renewable Energy LLC of New Canaan, Conn., will present its proposal to set up a “biomass processing” facility in the old Precision Valve plant on Nepperhan Avenue. The renewable-energy system would use organic waste to produce a cleaner alternative to diesel fuel, planners say.

Article source: http://www.lohud.com/article/20111004/NEWS02/110040328/Theatrical-sound-company-plans-addition-expansion-Yonkers