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550 Madison Avenue, SONY Plaza Public Arcade, proposed amendment to the First Modified Declaration to allow modification of a special permit to allow portions of SONY Wonder Technology Lab to close for 9 months for renovation, and upgrade and ...
550 Madison Avenue, SONY Plaza Public Arcade, proposed amendment to the First Modified Declaration to allow modification of a special permit to allow portions of SONY Wonder Technology Lab to close for 9 months for renovation, and upgrade and to renew permission to close SONY Plaza Public Arcade for 12 special events annually.
WHEREAS, The Sony Wondertech Lab in the Sony Public Plaza is part of the bonus plaza, is open to the public free of charge and consists of 4 floors of exhibits; and
WHEREAS, The Sony Wondertech Lab is funded by the Sony Corporation, has not undergone a major renovation in over a decade and would like to close 2 floors of the exhibit for 9 months to perform renovations and upgrade the exhibit, including adding more interactive displays and changing the technology from analog to digital; and
WHEREAS, The renovated Sony Wondertech Lab will comply with all American's with Disabilities Act accessibility rules, and has been certified green-friendly by the US Environmental Council; and
WHEREAS, The Sony Wondertech Lab will leave 2 floors open to the public during the renovation, but plans to close the entire exhibit on Sundays during the construction period; and
WHEREAS, A special permit was granted 10 years ago to permit closing of the Sony Public Plaza for 12 events a year, 6 to benefit not-for-profit organizations and 6 for private entities; and
WHEREAS, The permit is going to expire and Sony would like to have it renewed for another 10 years; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five has not received any complaints about the closing of the Sony Public Plaza for 12 events a year; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five recommends approval of closing portions of the Sony Wondertech Lab for 9 months to undergo renovations; and be it further
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five recommends renewal of the special permit allowing Sony Public Plaza to close for 12 events a year.
The above resolution passed with a vote of 32 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstention.