MTA shatters Fulton Street dome plan

By Marlene Naanes, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | MNaanes@am-ny.com

January 29, 2008

The complex that could have been like a downtown Grand Central Terminal just got a lot less grand.

The glass dome building set to gloriously top the Fulton Street Transit Center might be replaced with merely a street-level plaza because of booming construction costs, the MTA said Monday.

Running more than $400 million over budget, the long-awaited transit hub -- that a full side of a city block was cleared to make way for -- will now open in 2010 instead of 2009, without the dome that could have become a city icon. The MTA had already scaled back the size of the hub after delays and cost overruns.

"They have a whole team of people who give them appraisals, so I don't understand why they couldn't see they'd go over budget," said Anthony DeLeon, a police cadet who was waiting for the A train inside the beleaguered Fulton Street station. "I was looking forward to that glass building. If they had built it, it would have been better than the rat tunnel down here."

Soaring construction prices have also raised the cost of the rest of the agency's huge projects, like the Second Avenue Subway, by about a billion dollars above estimates. The MTA is asking its construction chief, who was set to retire at the end of this week, to stay longer and find ways to shave off any unnecessary parts of the projects.

The Fulton dome would have brought natural light onto the platforms and would have become an automatic lower Manhattan attraction.

Even without the glass structure, the price of finishing the underground work will cost $30 million more than the $888 million that was budgeted, officials said. The building alone would cost the MTA $250 million.

"After moving all those stores, they should just finished it because then at least they'd have moved all those people for a reason, said Jalil Benrdjem, a manager of a clothing store that was moved to make way for the project. "The construction has affected us all. It's just a waste for them to do all that for nothing."

The Fulton Street will connect the R/W subway lines and allow transfers to the 2, 3, 4, 5, A and C lines.

The agency is moving forward with its plans to turn the maze of ramps among several subway lines into a straight passageway, but any above-ground work has been sent back to the drawing board.

"We're very disappointed to learn that the MTA is reconsidering their plans for the Fulton Transit Center, and that the current plan may not include plans for the above ground retail complex," said Elizabeth Berger, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York. "I hope it's not over yet, and I hope we can find a solution that allows the MTA to honor its commitment to lower Manhattan."

MTA officials will present a new plan for the hub next month after meeting with community groups. The MTA is considering several alternatives to the hub, including a street plaza or some sort of structure funded by a private partnership with the MTA, officials said.