K. wrote in comments: “Do you know why Citibank at 120 West Broadway at Duane has two huge wooden boxes on both sides of the entrance doorway that went up shortly after they opened? The message on the boxes asks for us to please pardon their appearance for renovations but it has been years now without any visible changes or ongoing construction.”

This obstruction on the sidewalk has bugged me for years and I have tried several times to figure it out. Citi is just a tenant and reps for both the branch and corporate do not know what the boxes are doing there. I have tried folks I know who live in the building, which is part of 16 Hudson, but they do not control the space. I have tried the building’s manager, and he could not give me an answer.

There was nothing I could find on the Department of Buildings website, so I had to bug the DOB press officers. This is what they said:

There are permit applications dated July 8, 2024, for work near the entrance to the store:

• An application to repair and regrade the sidewalk for ADA compliance
• An application to repair the sidewalk vault beneath the store

There are no 311 complaints about the boxes (we can change that!)

(I have always used the DOB Building Information Search page, but I think I should be using DOB NOW. I did find what they found, though I still don’t see how they found the date, and while there are applications here, I don’t see any active permits.)

But wait, there’s more. The DOB said the job applications don’t necessarily relate to the wooden boxes, however. They suggested I ask the Department of Transportation about those. I have, but nothing yet…