Fulton Street Transit Center

**TREPYE** · March 8th, 2008, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by BrooklynRider

Actually, that is not on par with GCS. It is a very nice Path Station, not a transit hub. Fulton Street is where we need a new station and Fulton Street is the station that residents will use.

Well IMO design wise it is. And quite frankly not that much different in terms of subway (that being regualr subway not PATH or MN) accessability. Only 3 subway lines go to GCS and I believe only 3 lines will go directly into the PATH station so in terms of being a "hub" they are not that much different than each other. That being said, Fulton will eventualy have an access to the PATH thereby making this as a whole more significant destination than GCS. There really is not need for the MTA to be lowering the threshold of jacking up prices so we can have 2 pretty structures in what essentially gonna become one large train station between the WTC station and Fulton.

Check this plan out from about a year ago....
Multimedia

Interactive Graph

**scumonkey** · March 8th, 2008, 12:20 PM

Wrong agency, this is a Port Authority project. The Port Authority has the resources and the competancy to get the Calavatrava station completed, the MTA is just totally inept.

My BAD

However.....the "PA" HAS already tried to scale this project back as well- citing "Lack of Funds"
Not making Calavatrava very happy!

From Curbed:

...Last week, the Real Estate Weekly wrote that the Port Authority was considering shrinking the station's glass pavilion and eliminating a mechanism that would allow the roof to retract—changes that would further dilute Calatrava's inspired and slightly insane vision. But today, the Post's Steve Cuozzo reports that another PA official says the first PA official "misspoke," and acknowledged that there might be cosmetic changes, but the footprint and "signature elements" are the same. It all sounds suspicious in that very Port Authority way...

**lofter1** · April 2nd, 2008, 10:56 AM

Performing Arts Center Move May Mean
New World Trade Center Tower

NY OBSERVER
by Eliot Brown
April 1, 2008

A plan being considered by the city and state could give rise to a new tower on the World Trade Center site, as officials are pondering a move of the site’s planned Performing Arts Center to the top of the Fulton Street Transit Center nearby.

The Frank Gehry-designed Performing Arts Center-to-be has been the subject of concern in the community, given its far-off completion date (likely after the other buildings on the site are done), and the lack of identified funding sources for the project, which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Fulton Street Transit Center, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority project that seeks to better connect the numerous subway lines that stop just east of the World Trade Center, has recently encountered major funding hurdles. A grand Grimshaw Architects-designed entrance to the station was determined to cost far more than the M.T.A. had available.

Now, the agency has put money in its capital budget to build a new, if perhaps less glamorous, entrance that would have “an above-ground presence that will meet the community goals, but not the oculus as designed,” according to M.T.A. spokesman Jeremy Soffin. The M.T.A. has a multibillion-dollar funding gap in its capital plan.

According to people familiar with the proposal, the plan being studied by the state and city would put the Performing Arts Center atop the M.T.A. station, and could allow for new development on the currently proposed site of the center, just east of the Freedom Tower. Such a development would likely be used to bring in funds to create the Performing Arts Center, the people said.

Some in Lower Manhattan expressed skepticism about the possible plan, saying it could add more delays, coming on top of years of stalled and slow progress downtown.

“My thought is, they promised this community a long time ago that there would be a Fulton Street Transit hub with a showpiece terminal,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said in a recent interview. “That’s what should get done.”

A spokesman for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Mike Murphy, said in an e-mail that it would be best to see the iconic vision for the Fulton Street Transit hub become a reality.

“LMDC has been on record saying that the best outcome would be for the M.T.A. to fully fund and build the transit center that has been promised for Lower Manhattan, and that remains our position,” he said.

© 2008 Observer Media Group

**NoyokA** · April 2nd, 2008, 11:04 AM

Horrible idea! There are too many towers as is at the WTC site, the performing arts center gives the Freedom Tower some much needed breathing room. A much better idea would be to build a tower above or behind the Fulton Transit Center by selling off development rights in the sum of hundreds of million the MTA would have all the money they need to build a world class station and then some. I often wonder how the MTA can struggles so much when it uses the same subway tunnels from 100 years ago while the ridership and fare has continually increased, this situation is characteristic of the answer, backward thinking from those at top.

**Tectonic** · April 2nd, 2008, 04:30 PM

It just seems so retarded it you ask me. Putting the hundreds of workers above the transit center seems like DUH!! If build yet another tower at the WTC site that means even MORE foot traffic concentrated in that area...

**NYatKNIGHT** · April 2nd, 2008, 04:41 PM

The Performing Arts Center was meant to help create the "24/7" community and bring culture to the site - it's dominated by office towers and a memorial that marks the worst attack on our country's soil. A cultural venue was in every master plan submitted for the rebuilding of the site. They've already lost the Joyce Theater and the Drawing Center, and now they're thinking that the last remnant is to be moved too. Heads are up asses everwhere you turn.

**antinimby** · April 2nd, 2008, 05:10 PM

They don't have to move the PAC at all. They could just put the tower on top of the PAC.

I suggest they enlist Portzamparc as he has had experience with something similar before:

**kliq6** · April 2nd, 2008, 06:00 PM

I agree with this idea of a tower on top of the PAC and not in replacement of

**Daquan13** · April 3rd, 2008, 02:52 AM

Yeah, I heard talk of this.

In any case, is looks like a win for Ground Zero; Losing a small building, but possibly gaining another office tower!

**Derek2k3** · April 3rd, 2008, 03:01 AM

I agree with Stern, dumb idea. It seems more sensible to build a tower over the station.

Perhaps a tower foundation would be too complicated to build over the station or maybe security concerns?

**BrooklynLove** · April 3rd, 2008, 07:55 AM

imho - the first step toward getting something positive here is to remove mta from the equation - get a private developer in there who can buy the land from the mta - mta gets much needed funds, above ground development gets into hands of a more competent entity. would such a transaction be all that unrealistic?

re tower above this train station - i don't know the specifics of this site, but to the extent that would be possible here, it needs to be planned for sooner than later, while the subterranean work is still under development.

**ZippyTheChimp** · April 3rd, 2008, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by BrooklynLove

get a private developer in there who can buy the land from the mta

That's what would happen anyway if the air-rights were sold off. Ownership of the land beneath is not the issue. Like Hudson Yards.

it needs to be planned for sooner than later, while the subterranean work is still under development.

It may not be evident, but the subterranean work is the majority part of the project, and has been going on for some time. The Dey St building site on the SW corner is excavated down to the tunnel connection to PATH, and the tunnel seems to be dug out. Work is continuing at the N Line on Church St. On the Broadway side of the transit hub site, digging down to the Lex IRT started before the buildings were demolished.