For nearly eight decades, stock certificates, stamps and foreign currency were engraved and printed in the American Bank Note Building located in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. The icon's future, however, will be as a mixed-use destination for the arts, culture and food.
Taconic Investment Partners LLC and Denham Wolf Real Estate Services Inc. acquired the building in January for $32 million from the Blauner family, its owner since the American Bank Note Co. left the property in 1985.
“This is a major step in the continuing economic transition of Hunts Point that started with the relocation of the various wholesale food markets to that area,” says Charles Bendit, co-founding partner of Taconic.
An extensive adaptive re-use program will be implemented to create loft-type studio and traditional office space. When completed, the redevelopment program is expected to generate more than a thousand permanent jobs in the South Bronx.
The architectural firm of Beyer Blinder Belle, whose New York preservation projects include the Ellis Island Museum, Grand Central Terminal and the Apollo Theater, is designing the facility.
The redevelopment is slated to begin this winter, and the owners will begin to lease up the project this spring.