WaMu Collapse May Herald Changes on Montague

By on September 26, 2008 12:18 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, News

Yesterday’s seizure of Washington Mutual by federal bank regulators, and the subsequent purchase of its deposits by J.P. Morgan Chase, may mean that the space now occupied by WaMu’s branch at the corner of Montague and Henry will soon be vacated, as Chase has a much larger branch in the Brooklyn Trust Company Building, the magnificent Italianate palazzo (see photo) one block away at Montague and Clinton. As noted here before, Chase has sold that building, but remains as a tenant. It is also possible that Chase will move out of the Brooklyn Trust space and consolidate its operations in the former WaMu space. Both the exterior and interior of the Brooklyn Trust Building are landmarked, so there are stringent limitations on what can be done with it. If Chase leaves, its most likely successor would be another bank, although the owner may seek an adaptive re-use, as in the case of Trader Joe’s in the former Independence Bank space at Atlantic and Court. (Anyone been there for the Grand Opening yet?) One prospect, as pointed out by Dennis Holt in this Daily Eagle editorial, is that the building’s owner, Stahl Real Estate, may seek to build a residential tower above it, as it lies outside the Heights Historic District and therefore is not subject to the District’s height limitation.

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  • ABC

    let the usual Apple Store rumors begin…

  • Melissa

    Yes, visited Trader Joe’s and it’s much larger than expected with what seemed like additional products not available at Union Square and nice, wide aisles. Whoo hoo!

  • Nancy

    Considering Alan Fishman made 20 Million Dollars for working 17 days as head of WaMu, maybe he can buy the entire block. He already pulled in hundreds of millions from KeySpan and Independance Bank

  • http://www.collins.net.pr/blog dean collins

    Talk about pure speculation, what a load of hot air, the FDIC deal ink isn’t even dry i doubt the Chase merger teams even know the address of this store yet but if it makes your little heart flutter to dream you go right ahead….I’ll stick to reading news and facts.

    Cheers,
    Dean

  • Anonymous

    good riddance to those blacked-out winows.
    ba-bye wamu

  • Laura

    I am surprised no one has addressed the issue of fees. I got out of Chase years ago because they are a corporate bank and not for the smaller consumer. WAMU has free fees and good check deposit policies, and I wonder if this will still be the case once Chase has taken over. They have exorbitant check and atm fees. So far nobody has addressed this issue.

  • Tim N.

    Bring back Waldenbooks… as long as they hire a janitor this time…