MTA To Reassess Plans For Fulton Street Transit Center
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will meet today to reassess plans for construction of the Fulton Street Transit Center, after a request for construction bids this month attracted just one proposal, which was over budget. Originally envisioned as a downtown Grand Central Terminal, the Fulton Street center was to connect 12 subway lines and house a 23,000-square-foot shopping center under a glass dome. But since ground was broken in 2005, construction on the new facility, slated for completion last month, has been hampered by several delays and budget overruns. Projected costs have increased to $888 million from $750 million, the height of the dome has been reduced by 30 feet, and the planned end of construction has been pushed back to late 2009.
New plans could include scrapping some design elements and building a less elaborate "public plaza," the executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, William Henderson, said in a telephone interview.
A spokesman for the MTA, Jeremy Soffin, declined to comment on the Fulton Street construction.
City and state officials announced plans for the transportation hub five years ago, after securing $750 million as part of the $21 billion federal package for downtown rehabilitation after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Construction of the facility was set to begin in 2005 and be completed by the end of 2007, and the MTA demolished six buildings that the state had acquired through eminent domain.
The transit authority has twice scaled back plans, and it extended the time line after costs were projected to exceed $750 million. It will be responsible for cost overruns, now estimated at $31 million.
