The American Bank Note Company, located in Hunts Point at the intersection of Lafayette Avenue and Tiffany Street, which printed a variety of foreign currency, stock certificates and stamps from 1911 to 1985, has been sold for $432 million. The aim of the new owners (Taconic Investment Partners and Denham Wolf Real Estate Services) is to transform it into a cultural and commercial hub of a revitalized area. Current tenants include the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Sustainable South Bronx, Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre, the LightBox NY, and an eclectic mix of small artist studios,
The old Bronx Borough Courthouse, located at 161st Street and Third Avenue, will become the Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School starting with kindergarten to second grade. This 93-year-old South Bronx courthouse has been designated a landmark, but has been boarded up for many years. The building is an example of Beaux-Arts architecture and was once the center of civic life in The Bronx, the grandest structure among a complex of government buildings in the Melrose section which has since been torn down. Because of the proximity of the Third Avenue El, judges and prosecutors found that their voices could often not be heard over the screech of the trains that passed within a few feet of the building. The windows had to be closed, making the courtroom stiflingly hot. By the 1930’s, the borough’s growing population made the court obsolete and the city built larger courthouses near Yankee Stadium, about 15 blocks west. Over the years, the building has been used for night court and has served as a storage library for artwork. It has been vacant since the 1970’s.
Bronx native, John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Doubt,” is being filmed in The Bronx. Shanley, reared in East Tremont, revisited his old stomping ground in West Farms to retell the story that propelled the Broadway success of the play. Set in the 1960’s, “Doubt” is about a nun at St Anthony’s Grammar School who confronts a priest she suspects of molesting a student. The movie, which Stanley directs, stars Merryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, among others. The film is due out late this year.
And finally, Walton High School at 2780 Reservoir Avenue will be closing after 75 years. It has been replaced by five small programs: Discovery High School; Kingsbridge International; Celia Cruz High School for Music; International School of Liberal Arts; and the High School for Teaching and the Professions.
