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The Brooklyn Paper reports that the owner of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank on Broadway and Driggs is turning the landmark into “an exhibition space and banquet hall that will put an Old Brooklyn spin on North Brooklyn nuptials.” The owner, Juan Figueroa, says he thought about turning it into a restaurant or hostel but decided on the special-events angle because of the success of spaces like Skylight One Hanson. Not mentioned in the article is whether other uses would have been very challenging given the bank’s layout and landmark status. Anyhow, Figueroa says the restoration will cost $3 million, take two years, and he hasn’t yet decided to do with the lot next to the bank where he’s demolishing an addition that’s not landmarked.
Bank On It! [Brooklyn Paper]
Amidst Demolition, What of Landmark Burg Bank? [Brownstoner]
Burg Demolition Won’t Affect Landmark Bank [Brownstoner] GMAP


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  1. I dunno, 11217 – back of napkin here, I think this works.
    Skylight One Hanson rents for $15k per event, so let’s play it safe and say $15k per week, so $780,000 per year, multiply by 10 and it’s worth $7,800,000

  2. I did, Jessi. But I doubt the owner is pouring 7 million smackers into that place.

    Hey, if he can make this work more power to him. I just think that’s an awful lot of $$ and time to pour into a banquet hall. Perhaps I’m misinformed on how lucrative a place like this could be.

    Red Hook is remote too, but those views!!! They are worth a million dollars!! 🙂

  3. If one had to choose between One Hanson Place (over 12 subway lines) or this place for your wedding, which would you choose?

    You’d want your guests traipsing through South Williamsburg to get to your wedding? I’m sure the space is great and I’m sure people will want to have parties there, but the idea of using it solely as a banquet hall seems not particularly well thought out to me.

  4. If he has no particular plans for the lot next door, I wonder why he was in such a rush to demolish the addition. He could have just rented it out as cheap office/studio space or even coverted it to a few big loft apartments. It seems shortsighted to tear down a perfectly serviceable and rather attractive building just to leave an empty lot.

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