Here are the questions we encourage every piano owner to ask any rebuilder they are considering, including us.

Is the work done in-house or sent out?

Some shops subcontract the difficult parts of a rebuild to third parties, which can make quality harder to control and accountability harder to pin down. Ask where the work actually happens. At Ford Piano, rebuilding is done in our own shop, so the same team is responsible for the piano from evaluation to final voicing.

What parts will you use?

Parts matter, especially on premium instruments. Ask specifically which components will be replaced and what parts the shop intends to use, and get the answer in writing. On a valuable piano it is fair to ask whether original manufacturer parts are being used and to understand any substitutions. A rebuilder who is confident in their work will be happy to explain their choices.

Is this a full rebuild or a partial restoration?

The word “rebuild” is used loosely in this trade. Make sure you and the shop mean the same thing. A complete rebuild replaces the major tone-producing and structural components such as the pinblock, strings, and action parts, and typically includes refinishing. A partial restoration or reconditioning does less. Ask for an itemized scope so you can compare quotes fairly.

Can I see examples of your work?

Experience shows. Ask to see pianos the shop has rebuilt, and if you can, visit in person to see and play a finished instrument. A visit also tells you a lot about how a shop operates. Our showroom in Yorktown Heights is open to anyone who wants to see restored pianos firsthand.

What warranty do you offer?

A rebuild should come with a clear warranty. Ask what is covered, for how long, and what the shop will do if something is not right after the piano comes home. A written warranty is a sign that the rebuilder stands behind their work.

How much experience do you have with my piano’s brand?

Different makers were built differently, and rebuilding a Steinway is not the same as rebuilding a Mason and Hamlin, a Yamaha, or a Baldwin. Ask how familiar the shop is with your particular instrument. Our family has worked on fine pianos from the most respected makers for four generations.

Can I get a written estimate and timeline?

Before any work begins, you should have a written estimate that spells out the scope, the cost, and a realistic timeline. Beware of a quote that seems far lower than the rest, since it often means corners will be cut or the scope is narrower than a true rebuild.

Red flags to watch for

• Vague answers about what will actually be replaced
• No written estimate, scope, or warranty
• Pressure to decide quickly
• An unwillingness to show past work or let you visit
• A price that is dramatically lower than every other quote

Why an established, local shop matters

A rebuild is a relationship that lasts well beyond the day the piano is delivered. Working with an established local shop means the people who rebuilt your piano are still here to tune it, service it, and answer for their work years down the road. Ford Piano has been part of this community for generations, and we serve Westchester, New York City, and the surrounding tri-state area.

If you are considering a rebuild, we welcome these questions and are glad to answer them. You can request a rebuilding quote, call us at (914) 739-1224, or visit our showroom at 650 Lee Blvd. in Yorktown Heights to see restored pianos for yourself.

If you are weighing a rebuild for a piano you love, it helps to understand what the process actually involves. Here is a look at what a complete rebuild includes and why each step matters.

What “complete rebuild” really means

A complete rebuild is very different from a tuning, a repair, or a cosmetic refresh. Reconditioning cleans and adjusts the existing parts. A rebuild replaces the major structural and tone-producing components so the instrument performs like new rather than simply looking presentable. On a grand or upright of real quality, that difference is the difference between a piano that limps along and one that sings again.

Step by step: inside a full rebuild

1. Evaluation

Every rebuild begins with a careful assessment. We examine the soundboard, bridges, pinblock, action, and case to determine what can be preserved and what needs to be replaced. This is also where we confirm whether a full rebuild is the right investment for the instrument, or whether a more limited restoration will serve you better.

2. Disassembly

The piano is taken apart piece by piece. Strings, action, keys, and hardware are removed and catalogued so that everything can be restored or replaced in an organized way.

3. Pinblock

The pinblock holds the tuning pins that keep a piano in tune. When it wears, the piano will not hold a tuning no matter how skilled the technician. A rebuild replaces the pinblock so the instrument can hold pitch reliably for years to come.

4. Soundboard and bridges

The soundboard is the heart of a piano’s tone. Over decades it can lose its crown and develop cracks that rob the instrument of volume and sustain. Depending on its condition, the soundboard is repaired and restored or replaced, and the bridges are addressed so the strings transfer energy cleanly.

5. Restringing

New strings and new tuning pins are installed. Fresh strings restore clarity and brightness across the entire range, and new pins work with the new pinblock to hold tuning stability.

6. Action rebuilding

The action is the mechanism that connects your fingers to the strings, and it is where touch and responsiveness live. Hammers, shanks, and related parts are replaced, keytops are renewed, and the whole assembly is rebuilt so the piano responds evenly from the softest passage to the most powerful.

7. Refinishing

With the mechanical work complete, attention turns to the case. A proper refinish strips the old finish, repairs the wood, and applies new coats to bring back a deep, even luster. This is the step that makes a rebuilt piano look as impressive as it sounds.

8. Regulation and voicing

Once reassembled, the piano is regulated so every key behaves consistently, then voiced so the tone is balanced and even from bass to treble. Regulation governs how the piano feels; voicing governs how it sounds. Both are what separate a competent rebuild from a great one.

9. Final assembly and testing

The instrument is reassembled, tuned, and played in. We check it thoroughly before it goes home so that what you receive is a piano ready to perform.

How long does a rebuild take?

A complete rebuild is meticulous work, and timelines vary with the condition of the piano and the scope of the job. The right question is not simply how fast, but how well. A rebuild done properly is an investment that can serve your family for decades, so it is worth doing without shortcuts.

Is your piano a candidate?

Rebuilding makes the most sense for instruments of genuine quality and for pianos with sentimental value that you want to keep in the family. Well-made grands and uprights from respected makers are often excellent candidates. The best way to know is to have the piano evaluated by an experienced rebuilder who can tell you honestly what it needs and what it will become.

If you have a piano you are thinking about restoring, we would be glad to take a look. You can request a rebuilding quote or visit our showroom at 650 Lee Blvd. in Yorktown Heights. Call us at (914) 739-1224 to talk it through. We serve Westchester, New York City, and the surrounding tri-state area, and we have been rebuilding fine pianos since 1897.

Piano rebuilder John Ford stood in the midst of over 30 pianos in various stages of assembly, as picturesque in his old-fashioned apron as his Main Street shop overlooking the Hudson.

One piano he was in the process of refinishing gleamed richly with burnished mahogany tones, its inner working shiny like gold.

“I get all my pleasure rebuilding pianos,” he said. ‘I’m happy because I love doing it.”

Ford, 46, employs a half dozen people and has a specially-trained crew to transport treasured pianos from the customer’s home to his shop. He also makes house calls to tune pianos and do minor repairs.

Ford’s business has been in Manhattan, and then at his home in Cortlandt Manor. He moved his work to 417 Main Street near Water Street, last summer. Sometimes replacement parts for vintage pianos are available, and sometimes Ford custom-makes them.

Another of his specialties is “voicing,” the regulating and adjusting of sound, as he defined it.

One of the most interesting pieces in the shop is a player piano featuring “complete expression from very soft to very loud.” Its owner has piano rolls made by Rachmaninoff and Pederewski, and the piano reproduces the sounds exactly as played by the masters.

Ford is full of advice for those who would like to own a piano.

“Let’s say you have nine or ten grand. You can get an Oriental piano for that and you can also get a rebuilt American piano for that. In 10 years that Oriental piano will probably be worth less than half of what you paid for it. The rebuilt American will hold its value or appreciate.”

There are other advantages to buying American.

“The tone in many, many cases can be superior to a new piano. It’s a very esoteric thing, a combination of materials, labor, design, and manufacturing techniques,” he said.

Ford spins tales of the heyday of the piano industry and the accomplishments of his immigrant grandfather, John Fekete, with as much enthusiasm as he rebuilds and fine-tunes the prized instrument.

Fekete, who came here from Hungary, Americanized the family name to Ford during the 1950′s. He operated a piano repair business, which he eventually sold. Ford’s father operated a piano supply business offering tools and piano parts, which he in turn sold when he retired.

There was once a time in America when almost every home, church, and meeting place had a piano. Friends and family gathered around a piano player tickling the ivories, or a player piano reproducing music from a roll.

That was at the turn of the century, when ‘believe it or not, the piano industry was the largest in the country in terms of the amount of people employed,” said Ford.

Over 200 factories hummed with activity in New York City alone. Fekete was a foreman at many of these, including Steinway.

Early pianos were manufactured without benefit of electricity. ‘People would come to work with the sun – factories were built with lots of windows – and work until the sun went down,” Ford said.

Comments are closed.

Below, John Ford, owner of Ford Piano Rebuilding in Peekskill, plays a 1909 small grand Steinway piano that he rebuilt in his shop. Not shown, Chris Gonzalez, an employee, reattaches the lyre and pedal assembly on the vintage piano, which is being sold for $28,000. Ford, a third-generation rebuilder, specializes in rebuilding, repairing and tuning pianos. He came to his craft by way of his grandfather, Janos Fekete, who emigrated from Hungary in 1895, and worked in many piano factories before starting the family’s business. Ford, an accomplished musician, plays every instrument he tunes or repairs to make sure that it is properly adjusted. Recently, he has been looking for a space in Northern Westchester, where he hopes to start a piano museum.

By Susan Chitwood

John Ford has rebuilt pianos for any number of famous professional musicians, including John Lennon, Roberta Flack and Stephen Soundheim.

He has also restored pianos for the rich amateur musician, including Middle Eastern Sheik whose malachite grand piano needed resuscitation.

But when Ford chose new quarters last year for his workshop and showroom, he landed at the site of the old McCrory’s in downtown Peekskill, neither glamourous nor exotic.

The old five-and-dime shines like a new penny, though, with 80 feet of window glass fronting 15 South Division Street, where lustrous black pianos hold court in 15,000 square feet.

“I’m quite happy here,” the former Manhattanite said, “I believe my presence here is going to pick up the neighborhood a bit.’

The third -generation rebuilder had been searching for new space after out-growing his 5000 square foot Water Street atelier, and the McCrory’s site had been vacant for at least six years, former mayor Fran Gibbs said.

The city’s Industrial Development Agency, which owns the building,had been unable to secure a tenant as part of a downtown revitalization effort because of its size.

“We were pretty excited when he indicated his interest,” Gibbs said.  “We were excited about his plans, too, because it’s a unique business.  It’s amazing what they do.”

Pianos are rebuilt every 50 to 100 years because they wear out.  Ford and his crew of specialists can install new strings, sounding boards, keys and hammers and restore the finish.

“A piano is essentially a conglomeration of steel, wood, felt, iron, ivory and brass,” Ford said.  “It’s an unusual, complicated instrument.

“We knock it apart and make it like new again.  The beauty of it is watching their faces when (the owners) come in.”

Ford modestly conceded that he gets calls from all over the country because he does “have a bit of a reputation”and “reputation is key.  My employees regard quality as something to strive for.”

One call came from a little old lady on East 72nd Street.  “She said my grandfather sold her her piano in 1922 and asked did we want to buy it.

“I went down there,  We  bought it, rebuilt and sold it to someone out here,” Ford said.

With an additional 10,000 feet of space available, Ford now sells pianos, and not just to Broadway legends and Middle Eastern potentates.  His selection runs the gamut from from old to new, starter uprights to fancy concert grands.

But what about piano music?

Before the customers return for the unveiling, Ford tests his work.  “Every one we finish I sit and play for a while to get as much tone as possible,” he said.  “That  important.”

His test run is a blues and jazz improvisation although he’s  a classically trained pianist.  ” I promptly forgot all that, ” he said.

With any luck, Peekskill will have not just a new business, but a new business producing live music.  Nothing’s definite yet as Ford Piano is still under construction, but a grand opening in march could feature top-shelf pianists, Ford said, and he hopes to give recitals in the future on special occasions. Who knows, maybe the maestro himself will play us a tune as lovely as his hymn to the downtown.

John Ford started Ford Piano Co. in 1985 in Peekskill to carry on a century-old family tradition that his grandfather brought to America from Hungary.

John Fekete, who emigrated to the United States from Hungary in the 1890s, opened Fekete Pianos about 1912 or 1913 in Manhattan.

Fekete ran the shop until his death in 1957, passing on the business to his son, John, who changed his family name to Ford and the name of the business to Ford Piano Co.

Meanwhile, John started a new business: Ford Piano Supplies. He sold both businesses five years ago when he retired. He died in 1999.

His son, John Jr., who was “pretty much born in the piano shop,” started his own company in 1985 to keep alive the family tradition. Since its founding, Ford Piano Co.’s growth “has been phenomenal,” he said.

In 1985, it was a one-man operation. Today, it employs six workers and grosses $300,000 yearly.

“We pretty much have a waiting list of people who want our pianos,” Ford said. “We have a lot of work. I’m blessed with people who love to work as much as I do. It’s fun to do this sort of thing.”

Ford Piano rebuilds and sells about 100 pianos a year.

“We’re basically rebuilding specialists,” Ford said. “We also sell new pianos. We have a sales showroom in the old 5- and 10-cent store in the middle of the artists’ district in Peekskill.”

Bronxville resident Lee Schwartz, 70, has known the owner of Ford Piano since age 12. He first met John Ford Sr. when he came to the youngster’s home to tune his piano.

Later, Schwartz went down to Fekete’s shop in Manhattan, and they became friends. Eventually, he worked with Ford Piano as a subcontractor.

“To me, to be able to take wood and metal and make great sounds out of them is the most exciting part of making a piano,” said Schwartz.

What also made his work at Ford Piano enjoyable was the attitude of its owners.

“I cannot put a finger on it,” Schwartz said. “They were nice people to work with. They’re very attentive to the needs of the other people in the field.”

During his nearly 60-year involvement, the piano business has undergone many changes, most notably the emergence of Japanese piano makers like Yamaha as dominant players in the industry.

He’s also noticed a disturbing trend: a dearth of piano repair people. Nationwide, Schwartz said, 600,000 pianos are sold every year, so in a decade some six million pianos will need servicing. There simply aren’t enough people to meet the need, he added.

In Westchester, about a dozen people can repair pianos. He had no idea how many pianos are sold yearly in the county.

“We have quite a number of wealthy people in Westchester,” Schwartz said. “I suggest every one of them has a piano.”

John Jr.’s foray into the business goes back to his childhood in the 1960s.

“I started at a very young age,” said Ford, 51. “I was pretty much born in the piano shop. My father did not believe in the child labor law. He used to say, ‘If a child can walk, put a screwdriver in his hand.’”

Ford, who grew up in Manhattan, took piano lessons for a dozen years as a child and “always enjoyed working with my hands. Time seems to go very fast that way,” he said.

What’s the most exciting aspect of Ford Piano Co.?

Rebuilding a piano is the most exciting aspect of the job, Ford said.

“I do derive a certain amount of satisfaction seeing the instrument all done and beautiful,” he said.

To him, restoring a piano to its original beauty is a work of art that quenches his creative thirst.

“We’re taking an object that is 100 years old and putting in all the parts and rebuilding the beauty that will last another 100 years. That’s exciting,” he said.

“When we get a piano, we spend months and months on it. When we’re done, it is a magnificent instrument. There’s a sense of gratification. That happens a lot.”

Ford Piano’s customers include individual musicians, concert halls and “private parties who appreciate music.” Parents whose children take lessons also buy pianos.

“I firmly believe that every home should have a piano in it because it’s a thing of beauty,” Ford said.

Joel Martin, a Tarrytown resident who plays piano with the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra, bought his first piano from Ford Piano seven years ago.

“When I told him what my requirements were, he said ‘I think I have one,’” Martin said, referring to John Jr. “The first piano he showed me, I ended up buying it.”

Martin has since referred more than 150 customers to Ford.

“I think when they want the absolute best, he is my first choice,” Martin said. “He has a lot of honesty and integrity toward his work. As a person, he delivers the goods.”

Over time, piano aficionados’ tastes for the instrument have changed, especially their preferences for appearances and shades. But this is nothing unusual, Ford said.

“Different colors come and go,” he said. “They would go out of fashion and then they would come back in fashion.”

Red mahogany pianos were popular in the 1960s, then fell out of favor in the 1970s as walnut came to the fore.

“Now, mahogany is popular and walnut is not,” Ford said. “People change. It has nothing to do with the instrument.”

As for the looks, he said antique-looking legs ranked high in popularity in the early 20th century. By mid-century, “modern-looking” pianos were the vogue.

“Now, people request the old look – antique looking,” Ford said.

The price of pianos also has changed. In the 1950s, a good quality piano cost $500 compared to as much as $25,000 today, Ford said.

A small “nice upright” sells for $2,000 while a rebuilt Steinway can fetch $25,000, Ford said.

“We have both kinds of pianos and everything in between,” he said.

While running a thriving business is satisfying, Ford is equally pleased by the fact that his family has enriched the music world.

“My grandfather is credited with coining the phrase ‘Baby Grand,’ which refers to a small grand piano,” he said. “My father invented tools and concussions that have become standards in the industry.”

“I do have a national reputation. Within the last year we rebuilt and shipped pianos to Alaska, Georgia, Maryland, all over New England and North Carolina,” Ford said.

Ford said he is often surprised when people call him to say they bought a piano from his grandfather 60 years ago and ask if he can repair it for them.

Of course, he can.

“We’re not a fly-by-night operation,” said Ford. “We are here to stay.”

John Ford Jr. Can Rebuild an Instrument From the Bottom Up…

Like people, pianos decay over time. The instruments seem to be static, but the strings exert 20 tons of pressure on the frame, which eventually tears the inside compartment apart.  The passing years also ravage the finish and the intricate mechanism known as the action, a series of joints and levers that link the keys with the hammers that strike the strings.

Pianos have one major advantage over humans, though: They can be overhauled to a state as pristine as the day they left the factory floor.

In the piano-rebuilding business, most of the work is done by specialists.  Belly experts fix cracks in the soundboard and repair the pinblock, which holds the tuning pegs of the piano.  Refinishers are the trade’s cosmetic surgeons.  Action masters ensure that each key lines up straight and that the hammers hit the strings at the proper angle with the right amount of force.  Tuners add the final touch, turning discord into harmony.

As a general practitioner in a field characterized by a strict division of labor, John Ford Jr. is an anomaly.  Mr. Ford’s expertise in all phases of piano rebuilding results from his unusual upbringing, where he learned at the hands of two masters, his grandfather Janos Fekete and his father for whom he is named.

Signs tentative deal to acquire Hermax building.

By Brian J. Howard

John Ford has grand plans for downtown Peekskill, and he’s hopeful a deal he swung last week with the city will make them real.

Ford owns Ford Piano, a  piano rebuilding business on Division Street, and lists John Lennon, Stephen Sondheim, and Madison Square Garden among his clients. He reached a tentative agreement last week to buy the historic Hermax building next door for $325,000. The deal would clear the way for a music hall at the corner of Division and Brown streets.

The Cortlandt Manor resident said he already filed plans with the city planning commission to build a 4,000-square-foot music hall at 15-23 Division St., adjacent to his storefront workshop, replete with a dance floor, table seating and a performance stage designed by a sound engineer for optimal acoustics and big enough for a full orchestra.

“You may think this is a little grandiose of me,” Ford said last week, “but Steinway has Steinway Hall (in Manhattan) and Bosendorfer has Bosendorfer Hall (in Vienna). Why can’t Ford Piano have Ford Hall?”

The Peekskill Industrial Development Agency – the arm of the city government that technically owns the property – met last week and authorized Chairman Vincent Vesce to execute the contract of sale. Vesce, a former Peekskill mayor, must sign off on it before sending it to the common council for approval.  Councilwoman Cathy Pisani, who sits on the IDA board, said the agreement was “well on its way.”

“It’s the right thing to do,” Pisani said. “And I’m glad someone as reputable as John Ford is doing it. I’m sure his plan will be completed.  He’s not a pie-in-the-sky guy, and I’m sure this project will come to fruition.”

Ford envisions the music hall feeding off the Paramount Center for the performing arts. It’s that kind of development he saw revive his working class East Side neighborhood into an upscale entertainment destination in the 1950′s.  He’s sure it would offer similar benefits to Peekskill.

“Entertainment was the catalyst for this stuff,” he said. “I’ve seen it happen in my own hometown. There’s no reason it can’t happen in a town like this.  I know it will happen and my property values will go up.”

The agreement Ford reached with the IDA requires that he repair the Hermax building’s crumbling facade and remove the blue scaffolding out front.  He must also maintain the second-floor artists studios.

The basement area would be used as increased storage space for his 15,000-square-foot piano business. The music hall would occupy the main floor.  With just a handful of places in Peekskill that feature live music, Ford envisions a growing downtown music scene.  He hopes to create a place where musicians would want to come and play.

“Living in Manhattan, my prerequisite was to be in walking distance to a jazz club,” he said. “Up here I’ve got to make my own club.”

Besides Ford’s reputation, the city is confident he will follow through with his plans because of his success since he moved his business up from Water Street three years ago in larger quarters on Division Street. The space had gone unoccupied for years. Ford provided the city with rental income and contributed a growing business to downtown revitalization.

Peekskill has emphasized finding creative new uses for old structures downtown. The former Steinbachs building and the Paramount East are two examples.

It’s “an anchor location in the downtown,” Pisani said of the Hermax building. “It’s extremely important to upgrade that area.”

The family business

Ford Piano specializes in restoring old pianos, most built between the 1870′s and the 1960′s.  Ford himself represents his family’s third generation in the business. A fourth generation, his sons, is in the training.

His grandfather, a cabinet-maker named Janos Fekete, came to New York from Hungary in the early 1900′s and adapted to piano building.  Business was booming since pianos were a common form of home entertainment.  The industry has actually been in decline for about 80 years, Ford said.

Fekete excelled at the craft in the business and made the crucial decision to remain in New York when much of the industry moved South. “He liked hanging out with his cronies, speaking Hungarian in the street,” Ford said.

Once in a while, he’ll get a Fekete piano in his shop.  Fekete’s son, John P., was the first to take the name Ford.  The younger John Ford remembers his father as a genius, who profited well from his ability to craft unique piano tools that are now industry standards.  Neither he nor the younger John Ford ever did anything but piano rebuilding, both growing up in the family workshops they came to own.

A musical vision

The music hall concept goes back 20 years for Ford.  A musician, un-like his father and grandfather, Ford has long dreamt of creating a space to play, and see played, the fine instruments restored in his shop.  His ambitions don’t stop there.

Along with friend and fellow Peekskill resident Dr. Richard Jordan, a sociologist, Ford plans to establish a non profit organization aimed at providing musical training and instruments to allow talented young people in Peekskill schools to develop their abilities.

The idea is that a musical talent, like athletic ability or other skills, can be a deterrent to drugs or other negative choices, Jordan explained.  “The philosophy is based on (the idea that) if we help children identify their talents when they’re very young,” Jordan said,  ‘then they have a reason to say no to some of the things
they will be faced with when they grow up.

‘We say no when we have some thing to protect, he added.

Jordan is in the process of filling papers with the state.  Ford said the building purchase clears the way for the nonprofit, which is as much about helping kids as it is about music.  He said Jordan is key to that effort.

“This cat played with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.”  Ford said “This is a really cool cat, and he’s my close buddy.

Discussing Piano Rebuilding with Peekskill’s John P. Ford Jr. is like talking to Bill Gates about computers.  Ford seems to know everything about the instrument.  After all, pianos are his passion.  He loves them – how they look, how they sound and, most of all, he loves to fix them.  “The process of rebuilding pianos is meditative,” says Ford.  “Plus it’s art.  When you’re done you have a thing of great beauty and great sound.”   It can take Ford up to three months to rebuild a piano and the project can cost up to $15,000, which considering the cost of a new-piano a Steinway begins at $35,000-may not seem like much.  Among his better-known clients (past and present):  John Lennon, Stephen Soundheim, Roberta Flack, Barry Manilow and the group Fleetwood Mac.Does he himself play the instrument?  “Pianos are my vocation and avocation,” he answers. “Some guys play poker or bowl to relax.   I play piano.”  Ford owns a 9- foot-long, 60-year-old Steinway concert grand.

But more and more it seems you don’t need to know how to play to enjoy it.  “We install players in the pianpianos nowadays. Just pay your Con Edison bills and you’ll hear music.”

A former department store known as the Hermax building is due to become home to an estimated 200- seat music hall.

John Ford, a businessman with a local piano refurbishing business who is finalizing a deal to purchase the property at 15-27 South Division Street, plans to convert the building into performance space for recitals concerts and dances.

“I want a place with a stage that is acoustically vibrant,” Ford said.  “A place to play music – from Reggae to Rockmoninoff.”  Ford and a partner plan to create a nonprofit group that will train talented school children in the performing and visual arts for free.  The nonprofit will be a separate organization that will be located inside the building.

Ford said Peekskill resident Richard Jordan, a former jazz musician and corporate executive, came up with the idea.

“We were able to take lessons as kids and not because our parents could afford them “Ford said.  “If we get one kid involved, we thought that would be something good.”

Ford purchased the Hemax building from the city’s Industrial Development Agency for $325.000.  Negotiations with the IDA began in the 1990s.  Ford said he is about two month from closing the deal.  “Originally, I wanted to use the music hall to showcase pianos,” Ford said.  “But I also wanted a place where I could listen to some good music in my hometown.”

The city expects the hall will attract crowds into the area.  City officials have said the arts are a key part of the revitalization of Peekskill’s downtown economy.

“There really is not a venue like this in the area right now,” said Carla Williams, the city’s director of economic development.  “It will offer musicians new opportunities.”

The city is having a celebration of the purchase and redevelopment of the building at 9:30 a.m. today.  “We’re excited about the project,” said Alice Jane Bryant, executive director of the Paramount Center for the Arts.  “It will help us meet our dream of creating a cultural center in Peekskill.  On either side of us there are wonderful things happening.”

The Paramount, at 1008 Brown Street, is within walking distance of the Hermax building.  It is also doors down from a building formerly known as the Paramount East building at 1016 Brown Street.

A Peekskill construction company is proposing to create professional office space and artists lofts in the Paramount East building, the city announced recently.  Fourmen Construction purchased the building.  The company plans to lease the lower level to the city for cultural and recreational events.

A music hall will be constructed on the ground floor of the two story Hermax building with seating for 200 to 250 people.   A Woolworth’s and later a department store called Tuller’s at one time occupied the ground-floor area.

Ford said construction on the facade is due to begin next week.  He estimates that renovations of the entire buiding will take about two years.  He said he has applied for a $45,000 state grant to help pay for refurbishing the facade.

Ford is the third generation of piano refurbishers in his family.  He opened Ford Piano Rebuilding in Peekskill during the early 1980′s.  Ford, who plays the piano, said he will enjoy performing in his own music hall.

“I’m no big-time musician,” he said. “I’m just a guy who loves music.”