Glancing across the East River at Queens this month you'll notice a stark nakedness to its skyline, which is noticeably absent of the massive Pepsi-Cola missive scrawled across its building tops. Or, if you live in Queens, your view of Manhattan is currently clear of “aloC-ispeP.” So what gives?
The Times City Room looked into the situation at the behest of colleagues who wondered the same, and found that its removal is only temporary. For most of its 72-year life, the sign crowned the Hunters Point bottling plant, which closed in 1999 and was eventually demolished. Thanks to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, however, the sign stayed in the area and was reconstructed in its temporary location, where it sat for the last 9 years or so. Its future home will be just a few blocks north, at Rockrose’s East Coast 7 project, "a 24-story, 300-apartment building that is scheduled to be completed in 2011," according to the City Room report.
When its move was first reported back in July by broker/blogger Andrew Fine, and seconded by Curbed, it was noted that some of the letters might actually be restored as they're moved over one at a time. Fine said that work was supposed to have started sometime in September, but might be running a month or so behind that original timeframe.
We left a message at Rockrose Development Corporation to ask when the sign will be back in place, and will update here if we get an answer. Pepsi-Cola, this isn't the last we've seen of you! Love, New York.
