New TKTS Booth and Duffy Square - by John Choi and Tai Ropiha / Perkins Eastman

[antinimby]

Work on the site seems to have come to a standstill for a couple of months now.

Very little activity or workers have been seen there. Any particular reason?

Someone mentioned an April completion here before, but now I have doubts if they'll even meet that target.

[lofter1]

The gentleman from the glass company who posted here a while back wrote that glass installation would be sometime in the "spring" -- which doesn't start for another ~ 1 week.

[anatomy]

i think there may be further delays to this as the company that were doing the glass (Haran Glass), have been through some financial difficulties and are now in administration sadly.

[lofter1]

^^^ uh - oh ...

[antinimby]

New TKTS Now on Track for Fall


4/5/07

When the stalwart seventies-era TKTS booth in Father Duffy Square — it's not Times Square, mind you, but the square just north of it — came down a year ago, we were promised a new version, complete with a shiny red staircase as a roof, a public space to rival Rome's Spanish Steps, in time for last New Year's Eve.

No dice. What happened? An ownership change at the manufacturer originally slated to provide glass for that new hull derailed things, architect Nick Leahy of Perkins Eastman tells us. But the team is finalizing its choice for a new supplier, Leahy says, and expects the goods by late summer.

"It was a hiccup that we managed," Leahy says. "The ticket booth is in place and the geothermal heating [underground] is in place, and I would expect installation by early fall." Which means it'll be ready for next New Year's or whatever autumn events — the World Series on the Jumbotron, the Macy's parade, impeachment hearings — you might be looking forward to. —Alec Appelbaum

Copyright © 2007, New York Magazine Holdings LLC

[macreator]

Anyone walk by the site recently? I haven't been through Times Square in a while but I'd love to know how this thing is coming.

[Peteynyc1]

I just walked by there today and peeked in, for the first time in ages ironically. The job looks to be at a complete stand still. I would say it looks about the same as it did 2 or 3 months ago. No sign of the glass at all. The sidewalk stonework looks close to being done, but thats about it.

[macreator]

I just walked by there today and peeked in, for the first time in ages ironically. The job looks to be at a complete stand still. I would say it looks about the same as it did 2 or 3 months ago. No sign of the glass at all. The sidewalk stonework looks close to being done, but thats about it.

What a mess considering this thing was originally slated to be finished for last year's New Years Eve celebrations.

[MidtownGuy]

I know, I'm really anxious about this one.

[BPC]

Anyone walk by the site recently? I haven't been through Times Square in a while but I'd love to know how this thing is coming.

My employer moved into new offices on April 1. My office overlooks Father Duffy Square, and I spend a lot of time looking out my window, when I am supposed to be working. In two months, I have yet to see any worker lift a hammer on the site. The next time the City proposes to develop anything, just take a look at Father Duffy Square or Pier A, and remember that there are just some things the private sector does much better.

[lofter1]

Some good news ...


I sent off an email to the powers that be; a reply came today:

Thank you for your inquiry.

You are right that Haran Glass is no longer involved. They went into receivership. Unfortunately that caused some delays in the project. Fortunately, we were able, after a bit of effort, to engage directly their subcontractors, and a handful of their former employers, so that the project could get back on track. Indeed, just last week, two major elements of the glass structure – the north and mid wall – arrived in the New York port from the glass manufacturer in Austria. Some other pieces are in fabrication; others are in the final stages of shop drawing and are due to be manufactured soon and arrive on site in mid-August, when you will once again see considerable activity on site.

The current estimated completion date is mid November. We of course hope we can accelerate that but conservatively, we anticipate opening the booth for operation just before Thanksgiving.

[BPC]

Just looked out the window. Not a person on site today.

[lofter1]

From the reply I'd not expect to see much going on at the site for the next 2 months ...

[MidtownGuy]

Bravo, Lofter, for writing the letter and sharing the information with us.

[BrooklynRider]

Gumshoe reporting by our own Lofter.