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Bulova Reborn Into Corporate Center

The former watch factory has found a new life along the Grand Central Parkway. Tribune Photo By Ira Cohen

By Lee Landor

Retaining high occupancy and maintaining costly expansions and renovations for more than 20 years, the Bulova Corporate Center remains the vast, successful structure that it is.

In 1985, the Blumenfeld Development Group of Syosset turned a factory built in 1953 into a 480,000 square-foot office park. The Bulova Watch Company and manufacturing plant that once stood in Jackson Heights overlooking the Grand Central Parkway was bought, gutted, expanded and renovated into the fully utilized, modernized Bulova Corporate Center.

Keeping the exterior Art Deco design, and with the addition of 100,000 square-feet to the top floor of the three-story building, the center draws attention from thousands of drivers every day as it towers over the highway. But, unknown to the drivers, the inside of the building is even bigger and better.

Inside, there are hundreds of offices that hold about 2,000 workers, 400 of whom are members of the 10,000 square-foot corporate health center that was created during the renovation. There is also a 150-person auditorium, utilized by local residents as well as building occupants, where people gather for meetings or presentations.

The center had a second expansion in 2000, when it turned a neighboring seven-acre grassy plot used by local children as a baseball field into 130,000 square-foot retail center. A Home Depot Expo Design Center moved in, occupying 100,000 square-feet. Now, the store sits empty and dark, the sign missing but its remnants slightly visible. The parking lot is nearly vacant, holding only the cars of customers shopping at the Bed, Bath and Beyond store next door.

In August of 2005, Home Depot decided to scale back its 54 Expo Design Center units, which contained mostly higher-end or upscale accessories and merchandise. The company closed 15 Expo Design units and converted five, including the one at Bulova, into traditional Home Depots. The Expo Design Center at Bulova was designated for conversion because the market was “underserved” in that area, according to Home Depot representative Yancey Casey. Converting it into a traditional store “appeals to a broader base” by addressing marketplace viability and demographic needs. This way, Home Depot can carry some upscale merchandise as well as its usual products.

Blumenfeld principal Jonathan Cohen said he thinks this change will have little impact on the center and its 15 tenants, which include Tiffany & Co., British Airways, the New York Transit Authority, State Farm and Progressive Insurance companies, among others. Despite its high occupancy status, the center currently has 60,000 square-feet available for lease and no new projects in the works.