HBO leases Bronx building for “The Deuce”

HBO’s “The Deuce” may center around Times Square, but the network will produce at least some of season two in the South Bronx.

The company has leased 780 East 135th Street, a warehouse building in Port Morris, for slightly less than a year, where it plans to produce the next season of its show about New York’s pornography industry in the 1970s, according to Crain’s. The Port Morris building stands five stories tall and spans 92,000 square feet, and asking rent was $18 per square foot.

The show — co-created by David Simon and starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal — intends to use the building for filming, storage and postproduction.

Greiner-Maltz Realty Advisors CEO Ayall Schanzer, who brokered the deal, told Crain’s that production companies have lately shown more interest in finding shooting locations that can resemble New York City’s past, especially as more new towers and developments sprout up across the boroughs.

“They wanted a very specific look and feel that resembled the buildings of the 1970s,” Schanzer said. “There is a yard in the building where they can easily film alley scenes, and they loved that. They were very enamored with this area.” [Crain’s] – Eddie Small