News Roundup, April 21

There's a lot of Bronx news today! The big story on everyone's mind is the scandal surrounding Pedro Espada, whose offices were raided this morning by the FBI, the IRS and the Attorney General's office.

We'll have a separate roundup on the whirlwind of Espada stories in just a few minutes--until then, here's some other, non-Espada related news happening in the borough this morning:

A group of tenants in Kingsbridge are suing over unlivable conditions in their Heath Avenue apartment building, which has over 900 open violations. But instead of suing the real estate company that owns the property (which defaulted on its $35 million mortgage last year), the group is filing against the bank that owns the building's mortgage. This new legal approach would hold the bank responsible for the building's upkeep and repairs.

Speaking of banks--two Bronx men are being charged for holding up and robbing a TD Bank in White Plains last month.

Former Giants running back Tiki Barber is ditching plans to headline a fundraiser run at the Bronx Zoo this weekend due to scandals in his personal life (Barber recently split from his pregnant wife and is supposedly dating a former NBC intern). The race, however, will go on as planned (details here).

The Senate’s Task Force on Government Efficiency, chaired by Bronx pol Jeff Klein, released a report today saying that the state's Department of Transportation wasted $210 million in funds, much of it on outsourced work contracts that could have been cheaper if granted to state employees.

Congressman Jose Serrano is renting office space in the historic BankNote building in Hunts Point (there are also rumors that the nearly century-old building, once a site for the production of foreign currency, could soon be home to the Bronx's first brewery). 

Charges have been dropped against the Bronx man accused of stalking Oprah Winfrey's best friend, Gayle King, at her Connecticut home.

Two Bronx men are being tried in a Brooklyn court this week for allegedly beating a man to death in Bushwick last year because they thought he was gay, according to the NY Post.

A rally is being planned this Thursday at Bartow Community Center in Co-Op City to protest proposed cuts to bus lines by the MTA.

BoogieDowner reports that grocery delivery service FreshDirect is now serving customers in Westchester by driving through the Bronx--though it currently does not deliver to the borough, to the frustration of many Bronxites.

Renovations Underway for Bank Note Building

Almost a month after Ruben Diaz, Jr. was elected as the 13th Bronx Borough President, renovations have begun on the historic BankNote Building, where Diaz held his inaguration reception in May.

The BankNote Building, which is often referred to as the "penny factory," began as the home of the American Bank Note Co. where international and domestic currencies were printed. The building has undergone proposals for various projects since 1985, but was bought recently by developers and is in the works for completion this year.

Current plans for the BankNote call for elaborate redesigning that the City hopes will bring in more economic development that fall in line with Diaz's plan for "One Bronx."

In Diaz's inaguration speech on May 21, he said "for too long, our business organizations and merchants associations have worked separately to improve their own neighborhoods." The goal for the new president's term will working to align businesses' needs with those of the community in order to achieve this goal.

And now developing pioneers, Taconic Investment Partners and Denham Wolf Real Estate Services, plan to change the BankNote Building into something more modern and more "green," to help this cause.

Paul Wolf, the president of Denham Wolf Real Estate Services, who led a tour of the building at the inaguration reception for Diaz, said guests were impressed with the space.

“There was a lot of buzz around the room about the renovations – people said they felt like they were in the middle of a SoHo loft party with better views," said Wolf in a press release by Quinn and Co., a NYC-based PR firm.

BankNote's website shows three-dimensional blueprints for what looks similar to a multifaceted commerce center--complete with office space, cafeteria and shopping mall. The vision for future development of the 405,000-square-foot structure includes giving the more-than-300 windows "energy efficient" makeovers, and governing the building by a solar photovoltaic system -- the process that uses silicon solar panels to convert sunlight into energy.

All of this seems to follow Diaz's statements to want to guide the Bronx in a "green" direction, as well. "We are not just going to talk about bringing environmentally friendly jobs to our borough, we are going to lead the City and the nation in making it happen," Diaz said at his inaguration. "The Earth, and your wallets, will be better off for our efforts."

As of now, BankNote is home to artists' studios, sustainable development offices , a wine cellar, and a charter school, among others. The $25-million renovation project is scheduled to be completed later this year.

A Photo to End the Day With ...

I took this shot of my daughter, Devin (right) and her friend, Shoshana, after our tour of the American Bank Note Building in Hunts Point, part of the Open House New York festivities under way throughout the city that day. This photo is outside The Point CDC (a multi-faceted community organization that has helped spur the revival of that south Bronx community).

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 Concepción, 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)

Changing Times: Bank Note Building's New Landlord Wants Homeless Out

The Bronx's only drop-in center for homeless people is in the process of being forced out because the building's new landlord wants to attract a different type of clientele, according to the center's director, Noel Concepción.

The Living Room, which is run by the Citizens Advice Bureau, is located in the historic American Bank Note Building in Hunts Point. It currently serves 130-140 people a day, says Concepción. There are on-site medical services, showers, storage facilities, free meals, but no beds - which differentiates it from a shelter. Clients sleep in chairs. Many stay for months on end.

In January, the 400,000-square-foot building was sold to Taconic Investment Partners and Denham Wolf Real Estate Services for $32 million. "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 Concepción, speaking yesterday. "So they're planning to make this place a large multi-cultural arts center, and they’ve told us that our services and what we do here just don’t fit."

As one of the new owners told the Daily News: "Ideally, our tenant mix would encompass visual arts, performing groups, architects, Web designers, film production/studios, emerging green businesses and an international food market."

An international food market - whatever that is - sounds a little ambitious, but you get the picture: Yes to fancy art galleries, no to the mentally ill and those with drug and alcohol problems.

Other Bank Note Building tenants may not be safe either, because rents, of course, are set to rise. Concepción says he heard they might jump by as much as 75 percent, which is worrying Per Scholas, a non-profit that refurbishes old computers. (Majora Carter's Sustainable South Bronx, the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, and others, are also based in the building.)

The Living Room's lease is up in August. If staying put isn't an option (and at the moment it isn't), Concepción wants to find another location nearby. The neighborhood, he says, attracts the homeless, particularly homeless men, because it's easy to find day jobs, such as loading and unloading trucks. Hunts Point, all talk of gentrification aside, remains poor and industrial.

The Citizens Advice Bureau was involved in the Department of Homeless Services' annual Homeless Count, held Jan. 28. Results are due in the next few weeks. Concepción says he expects the borough's unsheltered homeless population to be down on last year's count, in part because of the Living Room's success in moving the chronically homeless into permanent housing.