Submitted by Bob Lunder, Dec 20, 2007 23:34

Reading your article gives the initial impression that the developer of the space, Richard Saunders, discovered a forgotten painting on the wall. I have been besieged by both calls and emails from friends about this. Mark Colaio was a close friend of ours and a dynamo in the Government Bond market. He bought a duplex condo upstairs in the American Thread building in the late 1990's and immediately pursued condo board approval to convert the abandoned restaurant space to residential from commercial. Once approved he purchased the space. Mark planned on creating a residence for his family and a dance studio that his wife June would run. Before construction began though Mark would throw parties every Thurday in the summer of 2001 in the defunct bar of the old "American Place" restaurant. Mark's biggest kick hosting came from taking party guests up the stairs to show them the Keith Haring painting which he knew was valuable. Mark uncovered the wall because he was told there was a painting behind the sheetrock. He did get an evaluation on it and was pursuing whether it could be removed when he met his tragic end at the top of the World Trade Center a few blocks to the south. Our friend Mark was not a developer but was a man of daring and vision. All his friends admitted they did not have the guts to attempt the purchase, conversion and restoration of that space. Richard Saunders has now carried out the plan Mark had six years after his death. Like so many other things that would Mark would tell us we just have to say again, "Mark was right".

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