http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/10/...-improvements/
SL Green details One Vanderbilt transit improvements
Public transit hall at base of tower, better LIRR connections among key components of plan
October 15, 2014
By Rich Bockmann
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SL Green Realty, which has pledged more than $200 million to address a cobweb of transit connections around Grand Central Terminal, gave a detailed account of those plans yesterday to the Midtown East task force considering a rezoning that would pave the way for the developer’s proposed One Vanderbilt office tower.
Those improvements include better links for Long Island Rail Road passengers who will arrive at the hub when East Side Access is complete in 2023 and a public transit hall at the base of the 1.6-million square-foot office tower that will feature a train schedule board.
But the lion’s share of the funds will go into overhauling the Lexington Avenue/42nd Street subway station, where the 4,5,6 and 7 lines intersect, and where limited space requires demolition and construction work to be carried out by hand.
Representatives from the developer gave a presentation yesterday to the East Midtown Task Force, one of the groups weighing in on the city’s proposal to rezone the area for greater office density.
As it is now, Grand Central is a tangled mess with indirect routes among transit links – one that will only get more congested when Metro North and Long Island Rail Road passengers have to cross paths.
Instead, SL Green is proposing improvements that would provide passengers with separate and direct routes to the street and subway. Along with upgrades to the crosstown shuttle, an outdoor public plaza and the transit hall at the base of the tower, the developer has set aside about $71 million to improve transit link that circulate under One Vanderbilt’s footprint.
The remaining funds, about two thirds of the total, will go toward improving access and circulation to the Lexington Avenue station.
Plans there call for a better flow between the mezzanine and platform levels, creating connections to the Hyatt Hotel and relocating stairs and various mechanical components. Because space is limited, however, construction and demolition will have to be done by hand, making the subway improvements the costliest part of the proposal.
Community members early last month pushed the developer for a more detailed explanation of how it arrived at the $210 million figure, and after yesterdays meeting the seemed pleased with the comprehensive report.
“There is still much to consider, as we continue to evaluate this proposal, but we are deeply appreciative of the good working relationship SL Green has now worked to establish with the task force and CB5,” Community Board Chair Vikki Barbero said in a statement. “Hopefully this will be a model for other major development projects in the City in the future.”
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http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...o-4-5-6-trains
ANDREW J. HAWKINS
OCTOBER 15, 2014
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The plan for the developer's new spire, called 1 Vanderbilt, must go through the city's labyrinthine land-use process known as ULURP, which began last month and will run to March 2015. Demolition of buildings on the tower site will conclude in the second quarter of 2016, and excavation and the laying of the foundation are expected to finish by 2017.
Community board members who have called for detailed information on the transit improvements sounded mollified by the presentation.
"At our last meeting, we asked SL Green for specifics and transparency regarding the estimated costs of the public improvements," said Vikki Barbero, chairwoman of the community board and a member of the East Midtown Task Force, in a statement provided by SL Green. "Today, they came through with a detailed report and an in-person meeting with the leadership of SL Green, during which they attentively answered every question we posed. There is still much to consider, as we continue to evaluate this proposal, but we are deeply appreciative of the good working relationship SL Green has now worked to establish with the task force and CB5. Hopefully this will be a model for other major development projects in the city in the future."
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Quote:
Meanwhile, the Department of City Planning sent a letter to the chairwoman of the East Midtown Multi-Board Taskforce refuting many of the claims made by Andrew Penson, the owner of Grand Central, who has been laboring to undercut SL Green's arrangement with the city. The new zoning that the city would grant SL Green would allow the developer to construct its tower without having to purchase air rights from Mr. Penson. In September, Mr. Penson offered to purchase the block where SL Green plans to build 1 Vanderbilt and build the tower himself.
In the letter to Lola Finkelstein, the multi-board task force's chairwoman, City Planning's Manhattan director, Edith Hsu-Chen, asserted that Mr. Penson's offer "contains many erroneous assumptions and assertions" regarding the sale of air rights in the zoning proposal for 1 Vanderbilt.
"What [Mr. Penson's firm] Midtown Trackage is really suggesting is that there should be no alternative for a developer to obtain greater density in the Grand Central area other than a purchase of development rights—at whatever the cost—from Midtown Trackage itself," she wrote. "This would be a radical departure from long-established zoning policy which has provided developers with a variety of avenues to achieve greater bulk, including but not limited to as-of-right bonuses, purchase of air rights, zoning lot mergers, and special permits."
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Last edited by NYguy; Oct 15, 2014 at 8:00 PM.
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