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| 2308 Amsterdam Ave. at the southwest corner of 175th St. |
Another building renovation along Highbridge Park on Amsterdam Ave. is almost complete. The building with a combination apartments and retail stores at the corner of Amsterdam Ave. and 175th St. just across the street and slightly to the north of the Highbridge Park Recreation Center is almost complete in terms of the exterior facade work that was started by its owners over a year ago. The scaffolding, which has been draped over the building is now down. The $1 Million project included the complete reconstruction of the parapets, pointing, new sills, and lintels, sidewalks, as well as power washing the entire building. The only work remaining is some minor work on the ground floor which should be completed shortly. The building looks like it was just built this year! The retail space along Amsterdam Ave. is almost ready for occupancy by retail tenants which will most likely be more up-scale than the previous retail tenants. Hopefully a restaurant and bicycle rental shop to complement the needs of the Highbridge Park. We hear that there are other improvements also in store for this building. Wow! The neighborhood really is 'a changin'!
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| 175th Street side of building (500 W. 175th) |
Yes, it looked like hell before. Good work there. I hope they get a store that is not just a bodega or a cell phone store.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope the neighborhood benefits from all the developments in the Highbridge Park. It would be good to see more changes like this too.
ReplyDeleteSomething like the Heights Tavern on 164th St. or like Dallas BBQ on 166th St. would be nice with seating on the sidewalk. There's plenty of room for a great place there and it is real close to the action in the park.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. There is no place along there that you can go to to relax after doing your thing in the park. They should have thought of this earlier.
DeleteI'm surprised that no one has opened up a big place along that stretch of Amsterdam Ave. yet. There is going to be an awful lot of demand once the bridge opens. What are they waiting for?
ReplyDeleteI don't care if it is a restaurant or a clothes store or any other decent store. Let's see some real businesses along Amsterdam Ave. I'm so tired of seeing the taxis being overhauled on the street and stuff like that. Someone should give Washington Car Service a violation for what they have done near there.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many empty stores available. I hope they can start renting them to decent stores. It will be good for the neighborhood.
DeleteYeh, and before you know it we won't be able to afford to live near here. Here goes the neighborhood.
DeleteWhat can we do to make the other landlords make similar changes to their buildings? If they would just see that by working together they would improve the whole neighborhood and we would all benefit. They would too.
ReplyDeleteI think that the landlords know all to well what is going on and will make their move as the visitor traffic justifies it.
DeleteNo way. They are too dense for that. If they knew what this landlord knows they would be doing the same thing now. It takes a long time to prepare a building in a neighborhood like this with the very old buildings here.
DeleteI'll bet you that within a few years you won't even recognize Amsterdam Ave and the surrounding streets. After the crowds start appearing this summer some smart store owners will come and open up here and make a fortune. Then the knucklehead landlords will understand and jack up the rents sky high. Then the national chains will see the high rents and want to get in on the action.
ReplyDeleteHow come no one is selling High Bridge T shirts or caps yet?
DeleteI don't know, but after all that work on that building you would think that it would have a little more character. It is so plain on top. Is that the way it looked when it was built? How about them adding some sort of decoration up there. Maybe a mural or something to draw attention to it.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know anything about the history of this building? When was it built? Did it have a name? Did anyone famous live here? It must have been built a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of stores used to be in this building? Did it ever have stores that dealt with the tourists that came to see the bridge?
DeleteThere used to be that disgusting car service company that did the car repairs right in the street. Thank goodness we are rid of them in the building.
DeleteI remember a bakery, Aeromundo freight, I think an electronics store, and a bodega on the corner, from left to right in the building. The car service was on 175th St. but they were everywhere on the street.
DeleteI have an old map of that street that shows it as Rutherford Court. My guess the map is from 1916.
DeleteThe bakery was Tamiris Bakery, and the car service was Washington Car Service.
DeleteThis would be a great building to put a cam on the roof looking over to the park across the street. That way everyone could see what is going on in the park.
ReplyDeleteAt least it doesn't have any cell antennas on it. It is clean up there now. Don't mess it up. How about a restaurant on the roof?
DeleteHow about a zip line from the roof over to the park?
DeleteThe views from that roof are fantastic. You can see the Harlem River and a number of the bridges including the High Bridge, Washington Bridge, Hamilton Bridge, Wilson Lighthouse, maybe even a few other bridges. You can also see the George Washington Bridge on the west side. You can see the various churches too.
DeleteWhat are the other buildings that have been renovated along Amsterdam Ave.?
ReplyDeleteThe building immediately to the north of 2308 on the northwest corner of 175th and Amsterdam Ave. was redone only a few years ago. It looks great too. These two buildings are the gateway to the Plaza de las Americas that is being built just a few blocks to the west on 175th St.
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