MTA Capital Constuction President Discusses The Fulton Transit Center
As you know by now, the MTA recently appointed a new Capital Construction President. One of his first promises was in his words an “elegant” Fulton Transit Center. He shared his views with the New York Daily News. Here is the report from Pete Donohue:
The MTA’s new construction chief is committed to building a glass-walled Fulton Transit Center in lower Manhattan that maintains many “elegant” characteristics of earlier plans.
“We are going to make sure the project is delivered,” Capital Construction Co. President Michael Horodniceanu told the Daily News. “It will be aboveground. It will be transparent. The same elegant look will exist.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority startled business leaders and elected officials earlier this year by saying it couldn’t afford the glass-domed entrance building that was to rise above the subway complex at Broadway and Fulton St. because of soaring construction costs.
A new completion date hasn’t been set for the hub project that emerged in the post-9/11 revitalization of lower Manhattan.
Horodniceanu, who last week took the post vacated by Mysore Nagaraja, suggested the dome itself may not make the cut. But the final version will feature skylights allowing light to filter down to the main mezzanine, he said. He also wants to increase the amount of retail space, previously set at 24,500 square feet.
“This is, after all, one of the most important things that we’ve done from a transportation point of view, from a hub point of view, in many years,” he said.
That’s encouraging to Elizabeth Berger, head of the Downtown Alliance for New York. “What is really important is we get on with it and the MTA builds what they said they would build – an above-grade, iconic transportation center with retail – and that they build it now,” she said.
The Transit Center’s budget is set at $1.2 billion. The MTA has about $900 million for it, mostly in federal funds. Horodniceanu said he’s looking to make cost-cutting design changes, but that won’t fill the gap, officials concede.
The MTA has indicated there is still much uncertainty.
“We …are working with our funding partners to identify sufficient funding for an aboveground structure that would satisfy the commitments made to the community,” an MTA statement said.
I sincerely hope he is serious about getting this project completed. As I’ve stated in the past, this is a sorely needed project & would do wonders for the millions of riders it would serve each year. At this point I just want it built as the functionality of it is more important than its looks.
xoxo Transit Blogger
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment