Seen & Heard: Citigroup’s Shrinking Plaza

••• Saw this at Gotan. You have to download an app to get access to the charging station. I think I remember that metal knob from Kiki de Montparnasse….

Powermat at Gotan••• The Roman K Salon at 317 Church is open. Full report when it’s ready for its close-up.

Roman K Salon Tribeca••• The weekend of February 20, Front Art Studio will show the work of Cornell University’s 2015­-2016 printmaking students. Below: “Ulexite” by Hannah Lang.

••• Zucker’s announced that it’s opening an Upper West Side location (273 Columbus between 72nd and 73rd) “later this year.” It already has one near Grand Central.

••• The recent Unofficial Minutes of the CB1 Tribeca Committee included an item about changes that Citigroup is proposing for its plaza, currently under renovation. (I left before it came up.) I asked CB1 for clarification as to what exactly Citi wants; the response is below. Apparently, approximately 33% of the current plaza space is “non-bonused.”

Citigroup, Inc. is seeking certifications by the Chairperson of the City Planning Commission to permit the reduction in the size of open areas on the zoning lot for which bonus floor area has not been utilized and to permit design changes to existing plazas at 388-390 Greenwich Street.

The headquarters building will continue to be used primarily for office use, with new retail use added along the Greenwich Street frontage of 390 Greenwich Street. [We knew about that; a bank branch and another retail space.]

The original plan provided for five public open spaces with minimum requirements for trees, seating, and planting. Citigroup is proposing the reduction of non-bonused plaza areas and to improve the bonused plazas by adding a variety of attractive seating and planting. The proposed actions will result in improvement of the Plazas by creating attractive public spaces with a variety of amenities, including seating, planting, bicycle racks and an art feature. The proposed design changes will bring them into greater accordance with the current plaza regulations of the Zoning Resolution.

And then CB1 got this clarification from the Department of City Planning:

As for the amount of plaza area being eliminated, there currently exists 51,635.375 SF of plaza area across five individual plaza areas; 5,942.375 SF (11.5%) of non-bonused areas (areas that did not generated floor area bonus) are proposed to be removed from the approved plaza boundaries to accommodate new cladding around the building and elevated areas to meet the new level of the first floor (which is being raised for flood proofing reasons).

So if I’m understanding all of this correctly, the total plaza space is 51,635 square feet, and 33% (or 17,039 square feet) of that is non-bonused. Citi wants to remove 11.5% of the non-bonused part, which is 1,959 square feet.

 

2 Comments

  1. I believe they’re proposing to remove 5,942.375 SF which is 11.5% of the total plaza.

  2. I’m in India now, and the official responses read like a certain type of Hinglish “Did not generated” anyone

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