Though at first glance, the garage at 383 E. 201st St. appears to be simply old and abandoned, in its alleyway is a historic relic that could come down.

At the last monthly Bedford Mosholu Community Association meeting, president Barbara Stronczer announced that a developer had purchased the garage, putting a wall sign at risk while also lowering the chance the garage will ever be used for its intended purpose. The wall sign reads “Vote Henry Bruckn,” with a portion of its right side painted over.

Stronczer told residents that she came out of her apartment building two weeks prior and found three men taking down the garage’s sign that read “Available Parking Space.” Upon inquiring, the men told her that “an Albanian man” bought it.

City financial records show that the property was purchased by a group that went by the name of 390 Mosholu LLC. Stronczer said that this implies that they may designate Mosholu Parkway as the front of the building.

“It sounds very suspicious that it may become an apartment building because I think that would be more profitable to have an address on Mosholu,” she said. “We may be hearing about demolition.”

Several local residents told the Norwood News that the property has always been abandoned. A 20-year resident who only went by Jose C. and was employed at Mary’s Dry Cleaners said that he knew nothing about the garage “except that it used to be owned by a German woman.” A neighbor, who went only by Beny, said that in all the 10 years that he lived there, he had not heard anything about the owner or its development.

The garage building’s wall sign could likely be referring to Henry Bruckner, who served as a state assemblyman in 1901, was a congressman from 1912 until 1917, and then went on to serve as the fifth borough president until 1933. He died in 1947.

Lisa Keller, a SUNY Purchase College history professor, told the Daily News that taller buildings became mainstream as the size of buildings grew in the early 20th century. She said that wall signs, from the 1920s to the 1940s, were a cheap type of advertisement, but as building density increased, they became less popular.

Colleen M. Heemeyer, an employee at the New York Landmarks Conservancy, a nonprofit that provides education on the landmarks process, said that the building is not a designated landmark. “One would have to petition the building to become a landmark through the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commision,” she said.

Angel Hernandez with The Bronx Historical Society told the Norwood News that wall signs were “a very popular way of advertising. You’ll see it all over the South Bronx. They are reminders of how businesses sold their products. It’s just as Bronx as anything else.”