The Building That Will Launch the Bronx

By now, you've heard that Perella Weinberg and Madison Marquette have acquired the Bronx’s BankNote Building from Taconic. The buyers are no strangers to up-and-coming areas. Is this the Bronx’s answer to Brooklyn and Long Island City’s renaissances?

Taconic’s plan to prep the 410k SF Hunts Point office building for office tenants priced out of Manhattan was solid, PW’s Billy Jacobs tells us. It was the timing that didn't work out, as Taconic bought it in '07. Still, Taconic persevered, finishing the gut renovation, and brought it up to over 90% leased, Billy says. NYC Human Resources Administration's 700 employees will move in any day, and another 1,500 people will visit that agency daily. PW and Madison Marquette also will redevelop a 5,000 SF adjacent building next to the BankNote Building into food retail to supplement the nearby McDonald’s.

Madison Marquette chief investment officer David Brainerd tells us the BankNote Building will be the hub for a Hunts Point revitalization. His company has known Taconic’s principals for years and identified this acquisition opp 18 months ago, as PW and MM's acquisition of the Center Building was wrapping up. Billy adds that Hunts Point sates PW’s appetite for dense, urban areas. (PW and Chera redeveloped 490 Fulton St on Downtown Brooklyn’s Fulton Mall into LIU student housing and retail, and PW and Madison Marquette have turned LIC’s Center Building on Northern Boulevard around.)