- See more at: http://blogtimenow.com/blogging/automatically-redirect-blogger-blog-another-blog-website/#sthash.Q6qPkwFC.dpuf New Owners Offer Tour of BankNote Building | Bronx News Networkbronx

Thursday, October 2, 2008

New Owners Offer Tour of BankNote Building

Taconic Investment Partners and Denham Wolf Real Estate Services, the owners of the landmarked BankNote Building, a hulking 420,000 square-foot structure in Hunts Point, are offering a "pre-renovation tour" of the building this Saturday, as part of openhousenewyork Weekend.

According to a press release, the one-hour tour will focus "on the unique architectural elements of the property." (From 1911 to 1985 it was used to print foreign currency, bank notes, and stamps, under the ownership of the American Bank Note Company.)

Taconic Investment and Denham Wolf bought the building in January for $32 million. They plan to invest many millions more and attract new tenants.

"Ideally, our tenant mix would encompass visual arts, performing groups, architects, Web designers, film production/studios, emerging green businesses and an international food market," said Paul Wolf of Denham Wolf, in an interview with the Daily News shortly after the purchase.

Current tenants include BAAD! and Sustainable South Bronx. They're safe - providing they can pay the suspected rent hike - but others aren't so fortunate. The Living Room, the borough's only drop-in-center for homeless people, has been told in no uncertain terms to move on.

"I think that the new owners envision Hunts Point as being the next place where there’s going to be a great deal of gentrification," said Noel ConcepciĆ³n, the center's director, in an interview earlier this year. "[And] they’ve told us that our services and what we do here just don’t fit." (On the topic of gentrification, a lively debate has erupted on Boogiedowner, after a reader accused the blog of "ruining the Bronx.")

The Living Room's lease was up in August. For now, staff and the 100-plus homeless men and women who use the center on a daily basis remain in the building. But it may only be a matter of time. The new owners are still trying to evict them, says Scott Auwarter of the Citizen's Advice Bureau, the organization that runs the center. With the clock ticking, CAB have been looking at other sites in the neighborhood.

Saturday's tour starts at 2 p.m. The building's located at 890 Garrison (entrance at 1201 Lafayette Ave.). I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the Living Room won't be one of the stops.

Parts of the building will also be open to the public from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Everything is free, but you should RSVP for the tour.

For more about the BankNote Building (formerly the Bank Note Building), visit this new Web site.

(Photo: NYT)

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