[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/2019/02/14/s...-court-square/

Savanna doesn’t have much time to replace Amazon at One Court Square

By Will Parker
February 14, 2019

Citigroup had previously planned to move out of 1 million of its 1.4 million square feet at the building by 2020, but that timeline was accelerated to early 2019 in order to make room for the incoming Amazon.

“In order to accommodate Amazon’s plans to build a headquarters in Long Island City, we had planned to move about 1,500 people at One Court Square to other floors there or to Two Court Square,” a company spokesperson told The Real Deal in a statement. “While these transitional plans may change, our long-term plans to relocate most of our current employees in Long Island City to other New York metropolitan area locations have not changed.”

The bank has been consolidating employees at its headquarters at 388 Greenwich Street, which will eventually hold 12,000 Citigroup workers. Citigroup paid $1.8 billion to reacquire the property from SL Green in 2016.

Savanna, which declined to comment, now has fewer than 10 months to find a replacement for Citi’s space, as well as space given up by the cable company Altice, which was reportedly booted from the building to make room for Amazon. Altice, which plans to move into a 130,000 square feet at another building in the neighborhood, did not return a request for comment.

https://therealdeal.com/2019/02/14/a...-hq2-new-york/

“We are stunned by today’s unfortunate news. Politics and pandering have won out over a once-in-a-generation investment in New York City’s economy, bringing with it tens of thousands of solid middle class jobs,” Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council, said in a statement. In a revised statement, he added, “We will remember which legislators forgot about us and this opportunity.”

He identified Gianaris and City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer and asked, “What’s their plan to create $27 billion in economic activity?”