Queens Plaza Court Building

28-11 Queens Plaza North

Company type	Municipal building
Industry	Office building
Founded	1912
Headquarters	Long Island City, Queens, New York City , United States
Area served	Queens, New York City
Products	Office space for New York City Departments of Education and Transportation

28-11 Queens Plaza North, originally referred to as Queens Court Plaza or Queens Plaza Court, is an office edifice located at the intersection of Queens Plaza North and 29th Street in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. Now under municipal ownership, it accommodates offices for the New York City Departments of Education and Transportation.

Constructed in 1912, this building was one of the earliest office structures on Queens Plaza, which evolved into a significant commercial and financial district. Initially, it housed the Queens Chamber of Commerce alongside the Long Island City Savings Bank. From 1920 onward, it functioned as regional offices for Consolidated Edison. The building underwent vertical expansion in 1927, increasing from four to nine stories. During World War II, it was repurposed as Army barracks before becoming the Queens office location for Pan American Airways. The City of New York started utilizing the premises in 1964 and acquired ownership in 1974.

Description

Positioned on the northern side of the Queensboro Bridge Plaza (commonly known as Queens Plaza), between 28th and 29th Streets and adjacent to the Brewster Building, this site lies within the neighborhood called Dutch Kills. The structure comprises an original segment facing Bridge Plaza North and an extension along 29th Street, collectively forming an L-shaped footprint.

The building rises nine stories and showcases Italianate design elements. The initial four-story section, erected in 1912, features a facade clad in terracotta and limestone. In 1927, an additional five stories were appended with a tan-brick exterior finish. The front elevation includes seven recessed bays with arched windows crowning the eighth floor, while the main entrance is accentuated by neoclassical marble columns. Its steel and concrete skeleton rests on foundations engineered to support further vertical growth. Utility vaults are situated beneath the sidewalk and western side of the building. Presently, a large rooftop billboard remains unoccupied by advertisements.

A 1953 extension along 29th Street projects northward for seven stories and integrates an internal parking garage facility.

Usage

Currently, the premises accommodate offices for both the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department of Education (DOE). Within DOE’s space is a Family Welcome Center dedicated to assisting immigrant families with school enrollment processes, as well as offices serving Region 4, which includes Long Island City, Astoria, and surrounding districts.

The DOT section houses the Traffic Management Center (TMC) on its ground floor; this center operates collaboratively with the New York State DOT and the New York City Police Department. The TMC oversees traffic citywide by managing signal systems and gathering information from roadside sensors; its control room features large video monitors displaying live feeds. Established during the 1960s, the center underwent modernization upgrades in both 2008 and 2011. Previously located on the third floor was the NYPD Traffic Enforcement Training facility for civilian traffic agents until its relocation to the New York City Police Academy in College Point in 2015. Additionally, this building accommodates the NYPD's School Safety Division, responsible for security at schools operated by DOE.

Historically, during Consolidated Edison’s occupancy, the ninth floor functioned as a cafeteria; later under Pan American Airways’ use, it was transformed into a ballroom and meeting venue known as the "Skyline Room." After municipal acquisition, this upper level continued to serve as a space for meetings.

At street level on the southeast corner—and extending into the basement—a bank branch was once operated. The last financial tenant was a Citibank branch that ceased operations in July 1990, coinciding with Citibank’s opening of a new location at nearby One Court Square.

Nearby landmarks

To the west of the Brewster Building, the former Corn Exchange Bank Building—currently operating as the Q4 Hotel and erected in 1911—stands just across to the east. Two blocks further east lies the historic Chase Manhattan Bank Building, positioned near the contemporary Sven apartment tower. Directly in front of the Chase Manhattan Bank Building, within the median of Queens Plaza, is Dutch Kills Green park. Educational facilities such as Newcomers High School and the Academy of American Studies are located one block north along 41st Avenue.

Transportation

Queens Plaza’s median hosts the elevated Queensboro Plaza station of the New York City Subway, with access points at 27th Street, one block to the west. The underground Queens Plaza station is situated two blocks east at Northern Boulevard and Jackson Avenue. The 21st Street–Queensbridge station is positioned to the west at 21st Street and 41st Avenue. Several MTA Regional Bus Operations routes serve this vicinity, including the Q32, Q60, and Q101 lines that cross the Queensboro Bridge into Midtown Manhattan, as well as the Q102 route to Roosevelt Island.

Early development

The 1909 completion of the Queensboro Bridge spurred significant growth in Long Island City. The approach road, initially known as Jane Street, was expanded and transformed into a landscaped boulevard called Queensboro Bridge Plaza. This plaza, spanning , featured service lanes on either side leading onto the bridge with a central park strip between them. Shortly thereafter, in 1910, the Brewster Building opened along Bridge Plaza North.

On August 9, 1911, the Queens Plaza Court Company purchased a parcel of land along Bridge Plaza North between Radde (28th) and Academy (29th) Streets for approximately $175,000 to build a "modern fireproof office building" measuring by . W. Elmer Payntar served as president of the company; part of this land was acquired from his family’s estate, which owned substantial property in Dutch Kills. Additional acreage was obtained from the Queensboro Corporation.

The building commenced operations in 1912 with a structural design capable of supporting an additional eight floors. That September, the Queens Chamber of Commerce relocated its offices from Jamaica to this new site. The Long Island City Savings Bank also moved here, anticipating increased business due to traffic from Bridge Plaza. By 1913, occupants included the Manhattan and Queens Traction Company alongside New York Telephone Company (now Verizon).

In 1914, under Police Commissioner Arthur H. Woods, the NYPD established Queens detectives’ headquarters within this building, providing both office space and dormitories. The completion of nearby office structures and the opening of Queensboro Plaza station in 1917 reinforced Queens Plaza’s status as Long Island City’s financial center and a pivotal hub for commerce, manufacturing, politics, and transportation within Queens.

In February 1919, City Real Estate Company acquired what was then Long Island City's largest office building—the Queens Plaza Court Building. By August that year, Long Island City Savings Bank planned to vacate its space; it was subsequently leased by New York and Queens Electric Light and Power Company (a forerunner to Consolidated Edison), which added a fifth story atop the structure. The East River Gas Company also maintained offices here. As a result, the building became commonly known as the "Electric Building" or "Electrical Building."

In 1920, Long Island City Savings moved across 29th Street; their former premises were then leased by American Trust Company. To accommodate expanding power company operations, the Queens Chamber of Commerce vacated in September 1925. In 1927, five more floors were constructed above the Electric Building to meet rising tenant demand.

World War II and Pan Am Acquisition

In August 1944, amid World War II, the Army Corps of Engineers established a 500,000 ft² Army Post Office on the former site of Madison Square Garden Bowl, located at 48th Street and Northern Boulevard adjacent to Sunnyside Yard. Built within 116 days, this facility was dedicated to dispatching Christmas parcels to troops stationed overseas. The Army's New York Port of Embarkation assumed control of the Electric Building, converting it into barracks capable of housing between 2,000 and 4,000 soldiers assigned to the post office operations. Meanwhile, the Power Company shifted its activities to offices in Astoria.

Following the conclusion of the war, in February 1946, Assemblyman Alexander Del Giorno suggested that the state purchase the Electric Building to serve as a centralized location for Queens-based state agency offices. By June of that year, Con Edison regained possession of the building and began seeking buyers. In November 1946, Pan American World Airways leased the top eight floors under a 20-year agreement, utilizing this space for systems departments, training centers, and its New York City reservations office. This arrangement complemented Pan Am’s primary headquarters in Manhattan’s Chrysler Building as well as its Central Receiving Depot near Sunnyside. The structure became commonly known as the "Pan Am Building" or "PAA Building," while Pan Am internally referred to it as either the "Long Island City Building" or "Queens Plaza Building." The ninth-floor venue dubbed the "Skyline Room" officially opened on February 21, 1947.

On October 21, 1948, Pan Am introduced an automatic communications system developed by AT&T Long Lines designed to streamline ticketing processes across airports; the core operations hub for this network was a telephone exchange located within the Long Island City building. By September 1951, most Atlantic Division offices had relocated from LaGuardia Airport to this site, with additional offices moving to Idlewild Airport (currently JFK). In 1952, Pan Am revealed plans for a seven-story expansion adding 50,000 ft² along with an internal parking garage; simultaneously, the original building underwent modernization and facade cleaning.

Municipal Use

In 1963, New York City entered negotiations to lease space within the Pan Am Building for use by the Board of Education's Bureau of Buildings, Design and Construction. That April marked Pan Am’s departure from its Long Island City premises as it moved to its new headquarters (today known as the MetLife Building) in Midtown Manhattan. By August 1963, plans were underway for both the Department of Traffic and several Board of Education divisions related to design, construction, and maintenance to occupy space in the Long Island City building.

These city agencies completed their relocation in February 1964. The Board of Education departments took over floors two through six after moving from their previous location at 42-15 Crescent Street in Queens Plaza. The Department of Traffic transitioned from 100 Gold Street in Lower Manhattan to occupy floors seven and eight. In September 1964, a ten-year lease agreement for both agencies was approved by the New York City Board of Estimate.

On December 17, 1964, the Traffic Management Center commenced operations as part of a newly implemented citywide computerized traffic monitoring system featuring a UNIVAC 1004 card processor. A decade later, in 1974, New York City purchased the building outright for $5.25 million after determining that ownership was more economical than continuing to lease the property.