Construction is finished on The Lehman Grand, a ten-story student dormitory at 2530 Grand Concourse in Fordham, The Bronx. Originally designed by Adolf L. Muller of Halsey, McCormack & Helmer and converted by MADDD Equities with Aufgang Architects, the structure yields 184 beds across 73 dormitory units spanning 50,000 square feet. The property is leased by the City University of New York on behalf of Lehman College, according to university board documents, and is located between East 192nd Street and East Fordham Road.
The Art Deco structure was built in three stages between 1932 and 1952, growing from a narrow branch bank into a composition with a 200-foot frontage along the Grand Concourse and culminating in the ten-story office block and a 50-foot clock tower with four faces. The façades are clad in polished Texas pink granite ashlar, red brick, and architectural terra cotta, with the bank’s raised Liberty Head medallions echoed in the tower’s round clock faces.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated both the exterior and the banking hall interior as landmarks in July 1994, and the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in November 2024. MADDD Equities’ restoration preserved the building’s historic features while adapting the tower for residential use; the banking hall reopened as a Fine Fare supermarket in 2024.
Photograph of Lehman Grand. Courtesy of Lehman College.
Residential amenities include 58 furnished rooms with private bathrooms and free Wi-Fi, two standalone apartments, a shared kitchen, study and game rooms, on-site laundry, and a third-floor lounge with coworking space. Residents receive a free shuttle to campus, Citi Bike access, and discounts at the Fine Fare below, and monthly overnight parking is available.
Interior fit-out work reached substantial completion in June, and the building will house its first students for the fall 2026 semester. The Lehman Grand name was selected by a campus vote and announced in April.
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The Dollar Bank on the Concourse likely had the grandest banking room in the Bronx.
Fantastic use for the landmark
Really nice to see this adaptive reuse.
Lots of double parking in that photo. If you want to improve public transit and traffic congestion, do whatever it takes to end double parking.
My forever nemesis…the four way flashers
How do we stop them?
What an excellent project that proves we can keep our history and thrive. Bravo!
Since it wasn’t mentioned, for those that don’t know, this was the flagship Dollar Savings Bank for decades. It later became an Emigrant and eventually closed in 2014.
Sorry DOF, just saw your comment.
I always loved seeing this building as a kid in the 70s when my mother would take me shopping at Alexanders and other stores all along Fordham Road & the Grand Concourse. It’s too bad that it is still a good distance away from the school campus but those students will have a gorgeous dorm!
It does seem like it would have made more sense to build dorms for Lehman on Jerome or in Norwood. I guess this is a sensible adaptive reuse for the time being though.
Always liked the building. We had penny accounts there when I was in elementary school. When in the area I always look for the clocks.
Does anyone remember if the bank had the World War murals?
I had a Board of Ed authorized savings account in that Dollar Savings Bank as a kid. A dime a week. 🙂
Most likely they’re using the 2nd and 3rd floors. Those used to be used for a secretary school way before I worked there and explored it as well as the clock tower back in the 80s. Also I know how to reach the bank from the tower as well as how to change the bulbs in the high ceilings. It’s sad that office spaces are no longer used for office spaces. On the other floors were an AIDS support center and maybe one or two other businesses but that’s it for the time I was there. Fordham Plaza was newly built so that building was a primo spot for businesses and not renting a sturdy bones building like Dollar Dry Dock tower.
Next door was a NYNEX payment center and that subway entrance was open on both corners. They should rename the station to e. 195 or whatever because no entrance is on Fordham anymore.