Ex-Bank Site, a Longtime Vacancy, May Get New Tenant

If you head to Bedford Hills for places such as Panera Bread or Shop Rite, perhaps you have noticed a nearby dark-blue building that has sat empty for quite some time, an aberration in a plaza that has in recent times.

After being empty for years, the former Chase Bank site may soon have a new tenant in the off of Route 117.

Just what business will be occupying the space isn't public yet, but the lease is being negotiated, according to Jim Diamond, owner of Diamond Properties, which is landlord for both the plaza and the nearby 333 N. Bedford Rd. entertainment and retail complex in Mount Kisco.

"The new tenant should move in by the end of this year," he said. "There will be a whole new facade, and it will have a nice look."

The building is situated in the northeast corner of the plaza and has been empty since at least 2008 when the lease for Chase Bank ran out, said Diamond. The building has acquired a dilapidated look, but he said his company didn't make any improvements because a new tenant will often want to reconfigure the space—both outside and in—to their specifications.

Regarding the overall progress in the plaza, Diamond said he is "pleased" but the work is not yet done. For example, on the plaza's parking spaces—which some Patch readers have —Diamond acknowledged the plaza was busier with the addition of new tenants, but he said he hadn't had trouble on his frequent trips to the plaza from his Mount Kisco-based firm.

"We're still working on the parking lot; we're installing light poles and adding a sidewalk to the entryway that will be a slightly raised walkway and path to the plaza," he said. "But it is slow-going when the plaza has so much activity."

Diamond recently received the New York League of Conservation Voters for his firm's adaptive reuse projects. Diamond is CEO of the firm, which he co-founded in 1995.