One Court Square, also known as the Citicorp Building or the Citigroup Building, is a 50-story, office tower in Long Island City,

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, across the

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

from

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, United States. It was completed in 1989 and designed by

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

for Citigroup. The building was the tallest in Queens from its completion until the topping out of Skyline Tower in 2019, and for many years was the only

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

in Long Island City. It is now home to telecommunications firm

Altice USA Altice USA, Inc., commonly known as Altice, is an American telecommunications provider with headquarters in New York City, owned by the Franco-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi. The company delivers pay television, Internet access, telephone se ...

, whose logo adorns the top of the building, among other tenants.

Design

One Court Square was designed by Raúl de Armas of

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by enginee ...

and is owned by Savanna. The building has a green-tinted glass-wrapped facade, and rises a height of and 50 stories above ground. It has no setbacks until near the top, where it culminates in a pyramidal shape. The interior contains of rentable space. Its official address is 2501 Jackson Avenue. The tower had been the tallest building in New York state outside of

, and the tallest building on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, for 30 years. In 2019, the building was surpassed by the Brooklyn Point Tower and the Skyline Tower, becoming the third tallest building on Long Island and the second tallest building in Queens. Later, in 2021, it was also surpassed in

by Queens Plaza Park, which rises to . It is distinguished from the

Citigroup Center The Citigroup Center (formerly Citicorp Center and also known by its address, 601 Lexington Avenue) is an office skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Built in 1977 for Citibank, it is tall and has ...

in Manhattan, which is across the street from Citigroup's former main headquarters at 399 Park Avenue. The buildings are one stop apart on the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

's IND Queens Boulevard Line (); Citigroup Center is near Lexington Avenue–53rd Street, while One Court Square is right above Court Square–23rd Street, the next station east.

History

Citicorp, the largest bank in the United States at the time, announced plans to build an office tower in Long Island City in Queens in 1985. It was commissioned by the bank to supplement its nearby headquarters at Citicorp Center in Manhattan, and partly financed by the sale of more than 30 floors at Citicorp Center – a deal ''The New York Times'' described as "unusual". Because of its proximity to LaGuardia Airport, the plans for the tower were reviewed by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

. The project was approved by the

New York City Planning Commission The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, ...

in 1986, and construction began by 1987. Turner Construction was the lead contractor, and

was the architectural firm. The construction site was occupied by a parking lot at the time, and was previously the site of a hospital. The tower, officially known as One Court Square, opened in 1989 as the tallest building in the borough, surpassing the North Shore Towers in Glen Oaks. It cost $250million. The development benefitted from city subsidies, including tax incentives and concessions on utilities, that aimed to persuade Manhattan firms considering a move to New Jersey to stay in the city. The tax breaks amounted to $97million over 13 years. In exchange, Citicorp funded a $8.5million improvement to the nearby Court Square–23rd Street station and created a plaza for public use. It also built a 750-car parking garage nearby. Citicorp initially intended to lease part of the building, but eventually decided to occupy the entire space itself. 4,000 employees were expected to work in the building upon completion. A year later, its tax-assessed value was $114million, making it the most valuable building in the borough. At the time, the tower stood alone in a mainly industrial district; ''The New York Times'' described it in 2009 as "marooned amid a sea of low-lying warehouses and auto repair shops", and a contemporary review of the building noted that because of its isolation, "we perceive this tower with greater intensity than almost any other skyscraper in the city." The reception in the neighborhood was mixed: many residents feared it would spur overcrowding and rent increases, while businesses were pleased with the prospects for further economic development in the neighborhood. Five years later, the area was little changed. Citigroup sold the building in 2005 to Reckson Associates Realty Corporation for $470million, while maintaining a 15-year lease. A second building, Two Court Square, was constructed for Citigroup on an adjacent lot in 2007, though plans for a third building were scrapped and a commercial district that the city envisioned would coalesce around the new construction did not materialize, in part due to the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

. In 2012, Brooklyn real estate investors

Joel Schreiber Joel Schreiber is a British-born American real estate developer, investor, and founder of Waterbridge Capital. Biography Schreiber was born to a Hasidic Jewish family in London. He moved to New York City and in 2000 – with the help of his fam ...

and David Werner purchased One Court Square for $481 million from Stephen L. Green's SL Green and JPMorgan Asset Management. In 2014, it was purchased by Savanna Realty. In 2020, the Citi logo was removed from the building and replaced with a logo of telecommunications company

, whose headquarters had been in the building since 2017. Citi's lease expired in the same year. In 2021, Consolidated Edison performed a $5million retrofit of the building's HVAC systems for greater energy efficiency, described as the largest such retrofit of an office building in the company's history.

Tenants

WNYZ-LD (also known as Voice of NY Radio Korea) broadcasts from the top of the building, as do various low power television stations. Since 2017, the building has housed the headquarters of Altice on its top floors. In 2018 the building was selected to provide up to 25 floors to

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

as part of one of its three Amazon HQ2 locations. However, the Amazon HQ2 location in New York City was later canceled. , Centene leased , and the New York City School Construction Authority was to occupy across 11 floors starting in 2024. For 30 years, the Queens Library operated a branch on the ground floor of the building, paying a nominal rent of $1 a year. It left the building when its original lease expired.

References

Notes

External links