Resnick Mattress Factory SOLD aka 99 S. William St

99 S William St

The massive warehouse that is known as Resnick’s Mattress Warehouse, or 99 S William St has sold. This building takes up an entire block of Liberty Street and is bordered by Benkard and S. William. I was able to speak to the new owner who does not have any set plans for this space yet. For now it will be used as storage, but he is open to the idea of retail space in the future.

If you have ever seen this warehouse up close, it is huge and has tons of windows that have been filled in with blocks. It would be amazing to see them opened up again like Atlas Industries is doing to their warehouse windows just across the street. There is another huge warehouse in back of this one at 109 S. William St that doesn’t look like it has much going on at the moment. The potential is definitely there for this entire area to reinvent itself. There are many other warehouses in the vicinity, it’s almost like a mini meat packing district à la 1990’s.

Picture 1

– Photos via Google Maps

11 Comment

  • As a child I remember Resnick’s Mattress Outlet in Middletown off RT 211 across the street from Lloyd’s Shopping Center. Good prices at the time.

  • Unfortunate that there is no real plan in place and the only vision right now is “storage”. A building of that size could have tons of potential uses.

  • Indoor mall, with a central open courtyard..or at least glass to let the light in..
    Ice skating rink…
    Aquaculture (fish farm)
    I could fantasize for hours…

  • I agree with cupojoe. Let’s hope it doesn’t sit there for years waiting to be flipped to the next owner. I like Hannah’s idea of an indoor mall. It’s a way of reviving the concept of stores on the lower east side of broadway. Attract smaller stores or chains and set up an area for a food court with seating in the middle where local restaurants or vendors can have booths.

    Other ideas off the top of my head
    Storage chains like Public Storage, Manhattan Mini, Specialty Storage etc (employ local folks)
    A factory ( you knew that one was coming. Get in touch with the NYC Factory intitaive guys and offer them space)
    A gym like NY sports club, Bally’s etc.

  • I tend to lean toward out of the box ideas that might start to lure in businesses with purpose. Things like small scale manufacturers that have larger distribution but also has a local retail component (think: skateboard construction, hand made bikes, furniture [like Atlas], etc….). This brings in city revenue, jobs and offers something new and interesting to the local community.
    Hannah, I agree some big skylights would make it a really welcoming place for the staff and visitors alike. As for food, I’d encourage local options instead of tacky chain stores.
    Sadly I’m missing several zeroes on my bank balance so I can’t implement this all right now. 😉

  • How about architectural antiques like iron and factory pieces? Big Stuff!

    Industrial components that represent the original city culture

  • I agree with cupojoe. I would love to see local manufacturers and businesses in there. Even if that would be looking a bit farther into the future, it would be great to see something like Brooklyn’s Artists and Fleas in there in the nearer future–to have local craftspeople, artists, and designers set up shop on weekends.