HSBC Downsizing in The Burg
Yesterday, Crain’s reported that HSBC has hired Massey Knakal to unload its iconic bank branch at 151 Broadway in South Williamsburg. The London-based bank has been ensconced in the 28.500-square-foot domed building since 1996 when it acquired the previous resident, Republic National Bank. Where’s HSBC moving? To a space in a new building at Bedford…
Yesterday, Crain’s reported that HSBC has hired Massey Knakal to unload its iconic bank branch at 151 Broadway in South Williamsburg. The London-based bank has been ensconced in the 28.500-square-foot domed building since 1996 when it acquired the previous resident, Republic National Bank. Where’s HSBC moving? To a space in a new building at Bedford and North 3rd Street, right next to the upcoming Duane Reade. From the looks of this photo sent in by a tipster, it should be opening pretty soon (“late 2010” to be exact).
Towering Williamsburg Landmark Hits the Block [Crain’s]
One of Brooklyn’s Most Beautiful Banks Up for Grabs [Curbed] GMAP
“And this area is NOT the trendy part of Williamsburg. It may be getting trendier, but if they were to open in Williamsburg (which I highly doubt) it would be on the North side.”
Yes it is. Just walked right by here last night. The iconic space could seal the deal.
“Apple wants more customers and more money as much as they want cache. They just opened on the Upper West side for the customers, not because the UWS is trendy.”
North Brooklyn is pretty big. And tourists love Williamsburg.
Anyway, like you said, we’ll see. Looks like a nice fit to me.
Oh and Apple isn’t known to be gentrifiers. They don’t go to up and coming neighborhoods. They go to where the most people are…SOHO, 5TH Avenue and 59th Street, Meatpacking (14th) and 68th Street right next to Lincoln Center.
They want to open in a spot with as many people around as possible…not in a secluded area accessible to the people in just that immediate neighborhood….
DH….most of the retail in Williamsburg is for the people who live there. Or people from Manhattan. Unfortunately inter borough travel between my area and yours is a pain in the butt.
Why would they move to Williamsburg when 90% of their customers will probably come from Williamsburg, when they could open in Downtown Brooklyn and be accessible to Brooklyn Heights, Ft. Greene, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Clinton Hill, etc.
People in Williamsburg can be at the Apple store on 14th in Manhattan 10 minutes.
If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. I’m just stating one person’s opinion. I really won’t mind if Apple doesn’t come to Brownstone or Downtown Brooklyn. I buy a computer once every 2 or 3 years and my office is right near an Apple store already.
Plus the whole reason I enjoy Park Slope’s retail scene is because it is free from a large number of huge retailers. I’m very happy that Apple will have no interest in setting up shop in PS.
Thank God it’s landmarked and they can’t tear it down or muck it up too much inside.
An Apple store would work, but 11217, you do have a valid point. I rarely go to Williamsburg because it’s just too hard to get to from where I live via subway. I could take a couple of buses, but that takes days. It would be easier to go to any of the Manhattan Apple stores. But I’m not their customer anyway, so maybe it will work.
I used to work in Soho when the Apple store was still a post office. It still shocks me to see Apple there.
“It would defeat the purpose of having an Apple store in Brooklyn to have a large portion of it’s customers not easily accessible.”
I would tend to agree – but then why does anything open in Williamsburg anymore?
I would say in the past year North Brooklyn has had way more overall retail open than all of Brownstone Brooklyn combined.
Yes, Williamsburg is very cool.
But it is also a quick hop to an Apple store already. Williamsburg is MUCH closer to Manhattan than Brownstone Brooklyn.
Apple wants more customers and more money as much as they want cache. They just opened on the Upper West side for the customers, not because the UWS is trendy.
And this area is NOT the trendy part of Williamsburg. It may be getting trendier, but if they were to open in Williamsburg (which I highly doubt) it would be on the North side.
apple store, trader joe’s? this strip of broadway is upscale, close to the subway and bus, makes sense to me. the scale of this section of w’burg seems to suit that type of retail. i can’t tell you how many williamsburgers i see walking home from work with bags from trader joe’s in the city…
But, 11217, you gotta face it – williamsburg is the coolest area in brooklyn, makes a lot of sense to open up there. Remember how you said Jonathan Adler came to Atlantic Ave. for the brooklyn cache, well, you get it in williamsburg more than anyplace else.