One Ct Square W Long Island City, Altice Building (Photo: Queens Post)
June 24, 2021 By Allie Griffin
The popular retail chain Target is planning to open its first store in Long Island City.
The company will open a 31,000-square-foot store at 1 Court Square West, a four-story retail building connected to the former Citigroup Building known as One Court Square, a Target spokesperson confirmed. The opening date has yet to be announced.
The store will occupy the entire 23,400-square-foot second floor and a portion of the third floor of the building, the New York Post reported. It will also have a dedicated ground-floor entrance, according to the newspaper.
“As we get closer to opening the store, we’ll have more specific details to share – including how the shopping experience will be tailored to serve local guests and the grand opening date,” a Target spokesperson said.
The four-story building once housed the Court Square branch of the Queens Public Library.
The branch occupied the 3,200-square-foot ground floor space since 1989 and was forced to vacate the space by the building’s owner since 2014, Savanna. The real estate investment management firm wanted to replace the library with a market-rate tenant.
1 Court Square West (Google Maps)
Target will lease the space after another mega-retailer, Amazon, pulled out of a deal to rent up to two thirds of One Court Square’s 1.5 million square feet of office space.
One Court Square — standing 53 stories tall — was once the tallest building outside of Manhattan in the city and the former home of Citigroup offices. Last year, the iconic Citi logos atop the tower were removed and replaced with a logo for the cable network provider with headquarters in the building, Altice.
The Long Island City Target would be the eighth in Queens. There are six existing Target stores across the borough and a seventh is set to open in Astoria in the former location of Key Food.
