SL Green hammers out plan for $210M Grand Central revamp

Grand Central is slated to undergo a $210 million transformation that will yield four new staircases to the subway platforms, two new street entrances, a revamped mezzanine and a brand new 4,000-square-foot waiting area as part of developer SL Green’s deal with the de Blasio administration.

The promised alterations must be completed before tenants will be allowed to occupy the developer’s 65-story office tower 1 Vanderbilt, according to the deal reached with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the de Blasio administration. The project will mark the first piece of a planned Midtown East rezoning, which Bloomberg failed to push through by the end of his term late last year.

Before the city can sign off on the Grand Central project, SL Green’s 1 Vanderbilt must make its way through the Uniform Land Use Review, or ULURP process, which will kick off this month and last until March 2015. Demolition of the buildings that currently stand on the site would be demolished by the second quarter of 2016, and the foundation would be laid by the end of 2017. SL Green aims to have occupants in the new building by January 2020, and so the Grand Central upgrades would have to be completed by then as well.

The planned revisions to the Lexington Avenue subway station beneath Grand Central would enable the MTA to run at least one additional train along the line per hour, accommodating 1,100 riders on average, thus relieving congestion. [Crain’s] — Julie Strickland