Less than two weeks ago it was announced that the landmark Bronx General Post Office was sold to YoungWoo & Associates (the price tag has yet to be published on ACRIS or disclosed) and now today it was announced that the landmark Banknote Building of Hunts Point has sold to firms Madison Marquette and Perella Weinberg for a whopping $114 million as Taconic Investment Partners unloaded the property — 4 years later than they had anticipated in flipping the property.
According to Crains New York, who first broke the story, Taconic purchased the property in 2007 for $32.5 million and gave the property a $37 million make-over restoring the massive 400,000 square foot building.
If you remember, BAAD (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), a pioneer tenant of the building before Taconic had purchased the Banknote, had to move from the building due to rising rents earlier this year.
It’s pretty intriguing that a property that is 6-7 stations deep into The Bronx (as it sits equidistant from Longwood and Hunts Point Avenue stations on the 6 line) has fetched such a high sales price. Transportation to the building (if you’re coming from downtown) isn’t as quick a jaunt since the 6 trains are running express in the opposite direction. Even though Hunts Point is slated to get a new Metro North station (1 of 4 to be added in The Bronx) that’s something that wont happen until 2023 at the absolute earliest given the MTA’s penchant for delayed projects like the 2nd Avenue Subway and the LIRR East Side Access (which is essential for these 4 new Metro North Station).
For anyone one working in the building, they have to walk for the most basic of services, unless they go to the McDonald’s across the street from it. This is something that the new owners plan to remedy as they are planning to build retail space into the ground floor. This will not only alleviate the situation for the building’s tenants but for surrounding businesses as well.
The Bronx is piping hot in the real estate sector with so many projects whether affordable housing or commercial projects. Only time will tell if these will benefit the people of our borough who desperately need to be uplifted along with the renaissance that is happening in The Bronx as we continue to rise from the ashes. If we leave our own people behind, then we have failed and will become yet another cookie cutter Manhattan or Brooklyn enclave.
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