South Bronx office tenants frustrated with lack of retail

890 Garrison Avenue
890 Garrison Avenue

New tenants at the Sunshine Bronx Business Incubator have helped breathe life into the landmarked BankNote Building. But they’re not happy with the Hunts Point, South Bronx, industrial area because of its lack of food and coffee options.

The building owner, Cheni Yerushalmi, spent $600,000 last year on renovations of the 104-year-old, former currency-printing site at 890 Garrison Avenue. He attracted 50 tenants, including an online marketing enterprise and a picture-book publisher, which pay nearly $500 a month for shared work space and a desk.

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“There aren’t those charming places where you can go and just have a lunch break at the corner,” Yerushalmi told Crain’s.

Help is on the way, though. McDonald’s and Red Lobster plan to move by spring 2015 into a $30 million, 45,000-square-foot shopping mall called the Crossings at Southern, four blocks from the office. Also, the city’s Human Resources Administration is arriving next September. [Crain’s]Mark Maurer