Credit: Chris Cooper

The BankNote

BBB's adaptive reuse of a landmark printing plant creates a vibrant, mixed-use hub that supports the revitalization of the surrounding community and celebrates the area's history.

BBB's transformation of the American BankNote Company Building — a 1909 landmark located in the Hunts Point neighborhood in the Bronx — includes studio and office space for a broad range of tenants, with a focus on art and design firms and nonprofit and community organizations. The imposing building is an icon for the neighborhood, dramatically rising over its surroundings. The design respects and restores the historic character of the building while overcoming its fortress-like quality, which in the original design symbolized its highly secure nature as a printing plant for US and foreign currency and securities. With a wide range of new tenants, the design creates a more open and welcoming presence by adding transparent entrances, pedestrian plazas, and lobbies, as well as new elevator cores and mechanical systems. Hundreds of industrial-scale windows were replaced, flooding expansive interior loft spaces with natural light. During the design process, BBB supported the designation of the building as a New York City landmark, and worked extensively with the local community. Embraced as a symbol of the neighborhood's history, the BankNote is now a catalyst in its revitalization.

 

Client

Taconic Investment Partners LLC; Denham Wolf Real Estate Services, Inc.

Location

Bronx, NY

Size

420,000 SF

Completed

2010

Construction Cost

$20 million

People

AIA, AICP
Partner, Director of Planning & Urban Design
Partner-in-Charge
AIA, LEED AP
Principal