Citigroup to build office in Long Island City

BY PRADNYA JOSHI and DAN JANISON

STAFF WRITERS

October 27, 2005

Citigroup Inc. officials said yesterday the company plans to bring 1,800 jobs to Long Island City as part of a plan to build a $290-million, 15-story office tower, while New York City pledged to spend $30 million in street and other improvements.

Citibank retail distribution group president Maura Markus said at the groundbreaking yesterday that the new building will be the national headquarters for Citibank's credit card division and branch banking business.

Parent company Citigroup first announced plans in May to build an additional building after it sold its 50-story skyscraper known as Court Square One to Reckson Associates Realty Corp. for $470 million. But Citigroup stayed put after signing a 15-year lease to rent all the space in the green-glass tower where about 4,800 employees work.

The city said it obtained $17 million in federal money to improve Queens Plaza and Jackson Avenue as well as add street lighting, public art and open space, while the remaining $13 million will be spent by Queens Borough Hall. Citibank will pay to install elevators and escalators at a subway stop and to build an underground passage between the G and 7 lines.

"We're aggressively working to turn underutilized city-owned land into job-creating private developments," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, also at the groundbreaking. "Long Island City has a great future we're going to make a reality."

A Citibank official confirmed that the bank recently signed a deal to lease 300,000 square feet at 485 Lexington Ave., a Manhattan building owned by the realty firm SL Green.

Tishman Speyer will build the new Court Square Two, but Citibank plans to be the main tenant. When Court Square Two is completed in 2007, the bank will have 2 million square feet in Long Island City and 10.4 million square feet of office space throughout New York City.