by Carrie Resch
Staff Writer
Downtown bookworms saddened by the loss of B. Dalton in the Landing can soon get their fix again when a new bookstore opens in the old Furchgott’s department store building.
The Hudson Book Company, primarily an Internet and wholesale book business, has purchased the 60,000 square foot building at the corner of Hogan and Adams streets for more than $2 million.
The first floor of the building will house a retail book shop and the remaining floors will be used as a warehouse to store books. Hudson Books is relocating from its Lenox Avenue location where they sold used, rare and out of print books.
Negotiations with the sellers, Hogan Street Limited, started in the fall and the deal was closed at the end of January.
Tom Hudson, the owner of Hudson Book Company, could not be reached for comment.
Addison Commercial Real Estate negotiated the sale.
“We’re real excited to see it happen,” said Duke Addison, president of the real estate company. “It’s a reflection on what is going on in the market and faith in downtown development.”
According to Addison, this deal worked for this particular type of company because no onsite parking spaces were needed and they didn’t negotiate for city incentives like some of the other potential buyers did.
“He (Tom Hudson) had confidence in the downtown real estate market,” Addison said.
Addison has had the building on contract four times in the past few years but those deals fell through.
“It will be nice to have a bookstore, I think people will enjoy that and I think everybody will be excited,” said Natasha Zaulyanov, who has opperated her business, Natasha’s Tailoring, on the first floor of the building for 10 years. She also used to be a tailor at the department store and now the bookstore will be opening in the space next to hers.
Furchgott’s was one of the downtown anchor stores along with other icons such as May Cohen’s and Levy Wolf but each gradually closed in the 70’s and early 80’s as shoppers stayed in the suburbs.
Owned by the Sadowsky family, Furchgott’s was a true “department store” with departments for men’s, women’s and children’s clothing.
After the store closed, various ventures tried to make the space work — a health club owned by James Stockton Jr. was in the basement for several years — but it lately has settled in as a row of sandwich shops.