City Hauls Off 'Street Sign' That Brands Intersection 'Tribeca Festival Place'

A lookalike street sign, across the street from the headquarters of Tribeca Enterprises and the Tribeca Festival at 375 Greenwich Street, was likely put up to coincide with the June festival. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

The corner of Greenwich and Franklin Streets is not called Tribeca Festival Place. But that’s what a pop-up street sign, masquerading as the real thing, had labeled the intersection for likely more than a month, until the Department of Transportation carted it away at the end of last week. 

The sign, in regulation size, color and font (but blank on one side), was attached to its own freestanding pole catercorner to 375 Greenwich Street, home of the festival’s owner and operator, Tribeca Enterprises. The Trib noticed the sign only recently, but it appears to have been placed there to coincide with the annual Tribeca Festival (formerly the Tribeca Film Festival), which took place June 3 to 14. The sign apparently was installed without the DOT’s knowledge. On Wednesday the Trib asked the agency for information about the sign and by Friday it was gone. A DOT spokesman confirmed that the city would remove it but did not provide details other than to call the sign “temporary.”

A spokesperson for Tribeca Enterprises did not respond to a request for comment.

This is not the first time the festival’s parent company has had its eye on that intersection. In March 2023 Tribeca Enterprises representatives went before Community Board 1’s Transportation and Street Permits Committee with a proposal to co-name the corner “Robert De Niro Way,” for the Tribeca Enterprises co-founder. The actor was turning 80 that year and the company saw it as part of a “multi-day event” to celebrate his milestone. Based on a committee straw poll, the idea lacked support, mainly because it did not meet the board’s newly written guidelines for co-naming streets. Tribeca Enterprises withdrew the proposal.