The future of the Etna Tool & Die Corporation building on Bond Street

[EVG file photo]

The Post reports today that James Galuppo, the owner of the now-closed Etna Tool & Die Corporation at 42 Bond St., recently passed away. He was 100.

So will the 7-floor No. 42 hit the sales market for a luxury condo conversion?

According to the Post, Mr. Galuppo left the building here between the Bowery and Lafayette to his daughter Flavia Galuppo as part of a $12.5 million estate. And she has no plans to unload the property, valued at $6.3 million.

"My parents’ real concern was that their tenants who have invested their livelihoods in our building would have to vacate, and that really bothered them. My father asked me if it was feasible to try and stick it out . . . I intend to honor his wishes."

After 70 years, Etna Tool & Die Corporation closed last year. (See this August 2017 feature at Gothamist for more on what was one of the last tool and die shops in the city.)

And who's in the building now?

A modeling agency, public relations firm and tech company rent space in the building now, along with three residential tenants.

Flavia, an art director in the film industry, said she will likely seek a new tenant for the ground level to replace the factory.

Mr. Galuppo, who was born on the LES in 1918, opened the shop in 1946. He bought the building in the 1970s.

"He would say, ‘I never thought I would see the neighborhood go in this direction,’ ” Flavia said of her dad. “People were warning him, ‘What, are you crazy to buy here?’ But he really believed in the beauty of the neighborhood."

A farewell to Etna Tool & Die on Bond Street

After 70 years at 42 Bond St., Etna Tool & Die Corporation has closed... Gothamist has a feature on what was one of the last tool and die shops in the city.

Tool and die employees are a class of machinists in the manufacturing industry and make a variety of things one doesn’t usually think twice about—jigs, fixtures, dies, molds, machine tools, cutting tools and more. Galuppo invented the anti-coin theft device that was installed in most of the city's pay phones. ConEd was also one of Etna's biggest clients, making the tools they use every day in the streets.

Owner James Galuppo, who was born on the LES in 1918, opened here between the Bowery and Lafayette in 1946.

Per Gothamist:

The family owns the building on Bond Street, and Galuppo's daughter Flavia says she intends on "honoring my father’s wishes by maintaining the building" and not selling it, retaining the few commercial tenants it still has.

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