Years before distorting Design Guidelines for the fitness center & field house, ESD stretched to allow arena roof logo

The more I think about it, there was some precedent for Empire State Development's dubious decision to amend--er, "clarify"--the project's Design Guidelines to allow 96,000 square feet of below-ground space to be used for a fitness center and field house.

Remember, that space, originally presented as "commercial," was then said to be "recreational," though that category was never approved--and, informally, the developer described "health clubs" in a presentation before project approval as subsumed under "retail."

Instead, rather than be subtracted from allotted commercial or retail space, it's a new category, somehow able to be exchanged for parking space (though the latter was never proposed as fungible).

What about the roof logo?

Well, remember the logo on the Barclays Center, before the green roof?

That valuable signage, however common for fly-over cameras, had been neither officially approved nor disclosed. But it passed muster, an Empire State Development official claimed in August 2012: 

The logo design comprehensively complies with the intent of the guidelines that “establish a framework for the design of the project.” The propose signage has been reviewed and the following summarizes our findings:

• The sign is not illuminated
• It cannot be seen from street-level
• There is no impact on street view corridors
• There is no impact on the transparency of the glazing for the Arena and Retail Space

Actually, the Design Guidelines, approved in 2006 and not amended by then, addressed facade signage only, focusing on "the urban form of the project" and "architectural treatment and streetscape."

The "framework for the design of the project" didn't mention rooftop signage because it wasn't contemplated. The Frank Gehry-designed arena was supposed to have green space on the roof!

One more thing: the signage was partly visible, as even Forest City CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin once acknowledged.