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A concourse headhouse will open at 189 Broadway
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There is a reason why Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) planners call it the "mixing bowl." As the main rotunda of the new Fulton Street Transit Center, every day nearly 300,000 riders will crisscross through the central building between 12 trains on six platforms, whisk to and from the street, and stop off for snacks or shopping.
But whether they call it a mixing bowl or a train station, the Transit Center building will serve as one of the city's premier commuter hubs -- delivering the utility of Penn Station and the grandeur of Grand Central to the heart of Lower Manhattan.
The $888 million Transit Center in its entirety is one of the most ambitious projects factoring into the $20 billion tally of downtown developments underway south of Canal Street. Its construction elements have been common sights from William to Church to Cortlandt Streets for more than two years now. And in that time, hard-working crews have already completed several pieces of the puzzle that will, by fall 2009, change the day-to-day transit experience for countless commuters.
Among them are the new stairways on the 2/3 platform, completed in late 2006, and the south-end entrance to 4/5 northbound trains, which opened ahead of schedule last month. Both additions already are helping to even out platform crowding, with more to come.
Now, after a slight revamp of the Transit Center's plans -- including the new transfer passageway to the World Trade Center (WTC) E -- MTA Capital Construction is mobilizing work on the main superstructure at Broadway and Fulton Street.
Called "Contract 3," the deconstruction of buildings 194 through 210 Broadway (between John and Fulton Streets) officially began February 22nd, following several months of cleaning and abatement. Locals already are familiar with the heavy exterior construction on that block, where crews have been installing the secant pile wall needed to link the Transit Center building to the Dey Street Concourse.
The next phase kicks off mid-block at building 200-202 Broadway, the former site of Modell's Sporting Goods. That starting point allows crews to create a platform from which deconstruction equipment, including a crane by mid-spring, can be used to pick up and move materials from the neighboring buildings onto carting trucks.
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| The new station will streamline the A/Z mezzanine |
Deconstruction of that first structure is expected to last approximately four weeks, when MTA crews will begin deconstructing 204-210 Broadway (to the north) for the next five weeks, through April 2007. Next, using a crane, crews will about-face to the south and deconstruct the 12-story 198 Broadway building over nine weeks. The final building, at 194-196 Broadway, will be deconstructed over the following four weeks.
If all work goes as planned, the entire deconstruction project is expected to wrap up by June 2007.
Then begins "Contract 4," the most significant of the Transit Center phases. Estimated to take 28 months, it encompasses erection of the main building and its trademark oculus, improvements to the A/C and J/M/Z mezzanines and platforms, and Corbin Building rehabilitation.
The Corbin Building, at the corner of Broadway and John Street, is a standout element of the Transit Center complex. The brick, stone, and terra cotta building was built in 1888 by architect Francis Hatch Kimball for Long Island Rail Road chief Austin Corbin and originally housed a bank and offices.
Mysore Nagaraja, P.E., president of MTA Capital Construction, calls the Corbin Building a "proto-skyscraper" -- an early tower reaching nine stories. "It is a rare surviving example of its kind," he says. "It is an immediate precursor to the skyscraper -- elevators were introduced but the steel frame was not yet used."
From an engineering perspective, the building is also unique for being built atop soil and for its narrow footprint that is only 20 feet wide at the western end and 40 at the eastern end.
"The building predates the use of pneumatic-driven caisson footings that are necessary for the steel-frame construction of true skyscrapers," Nagaraja explains. "The structure is supported by the earlier means of load-bearing masonry walls -- Guastavino tile structural floor arches."
The MTA will underpin and rehabilitate the entire Corbin Building, restoring its façade and converting its basement and ground floor into an entrance to the Transit Center and Dey Street Concourse.
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| The nine-story Corbin Bldg. will be restored |
"The preservation of the Corbin Building is important because of its aesthetic and technological contributions to the history of American architecture," Nagaraja explains. "Other notable features are the fire-resistant design and the extensive, pioneering use of very elaborate terra cotta exterior decoration."
Across Broadway at Dey Street, MTA also will build a direct entrance, or "headhouse," to the Dey Street Concourse. Deconstruction of 189 Broadway, which formerly housed the World of Golf and other retail, began in early February and is now nearly finished.
Under Dey Street, the long-term excavation project continues to make way for the 350-foot-long, 29-foot-wide pedestrian passage. The most recent milestone there is the bottoming out to about 50 feet below grade at Dey and Church Streets. By April 2008 that concourse will connect to the main Transit Center space and to the WTC Transportation Hub and R/W Cortlandt Street and WTC E subways. (Click here to read more about the Dey Street Concourse project.)
Still, much work remains for the main Transit Center space to improve access to nine train lines stretching west to William Street. ADA compliance will bring an elevator to 129 Fulton Street down to the 2/3 trains, as well as new entrances at the bases of 150 and 135 William Street.
Subway riders also will have smoother connections to the J/M/Z and A/C trains. Designers have planned a single-level mezzanine with open sight lines to stairs and the main building, in lieu of the somewhat confusing switchback ramps and U-shaped directional arrows there now.
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| The "mixing bowl" is the Transit Center's hub |
Meanwhile, back in the mixing bowl, the oculus will draw in natural light through its skylight 40 feet above the main building (105 feet from grade). That light will help illuminate the main floor -- actually one floor below grade -- lend to wayfinding, and perhaps more notably, anchor the whole complex. The two-story pavilion at its base, clad in steel and glass, will let in light too and potentially house retail, restaurants, and public seating.
The immense scope of the project means MTA crews have their work cut out for them. So far they are still on schedule, working like clockwork toward the fall 2009 completion that will bring the Fulton Street Transit Center opening -- and the start of a new era for downtown transportation.
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