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Williamsburgh Savings Bank to be a wedding hall

By Mike McLaughlin
The Brooklyn Paper
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Richard Berenholz
The grand former bank space in the lobby of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower will soon be available for parties and weddings.

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Get ready to start rocking around the clock tower.

The landmark ground floor of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building will open in September as a sumptuous catering hall for weddings, bar mitzvahs and high-end special events.

A Manhattan events manager is the new tenant in the opulent former bank branch in the historic 37-story skyscraper in Fort Greene, currently the tallest building in Brooklyn.

“The space is phenomenal — the pride of Brooklyn,” said Jennifer Blumin of Skyline Studios, referring to the “Clocktower at One Hanson,” a name that reflects the building’s actual address at 1 Hanson Pl., though the party room is not in the clocktower itself.

The 1927 building with its warren of dentists’ offices in the upper floors underwent a conversion to luxury housing by Magic Johnson’s real-estate company, while the ground floor has tempted Apple, Microsoft and national booksellers — all of whom shied away because the lofty interior of the former bank is protected from almost any alteration by its landmark status.

That means the vaulted ceilings with images of the night sky, a mosaic of colonial New York on the wall, wooden bank teller stations and marble tables will be untouched.

Prices start at $15,000 to book your nuptials or corporate Christmas party in the Clocktower, but there will be other “Brooklyn-sensitive prices” for other events, Blumin said.

“We want to keep that neighborhood feel in place,” she said. “We want it to be accessible to people who want to be in Brooklyn.”

The city Landmarks Preservation Commission said Blumin doesn’t need to present her plans unless she wants to modify the space, most recently an HSBC branch.

©2009 The Brooklyn Paper

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