A long-delayed plan to refurbish and expand the 294,000-square-foot George Washingon Bridge bus station at 4211 Broadway in Upper Manhattan is back on track, the New York Times reported, with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey voting to proceed with a $183.2 million renovation.
The Port Authority has teamed up with principals from Palm Beach, Fla.-based SJM Partners and New York’s Slayton Equities. Together, the team will manage the space for 99 years under the terms of a lease signed July 21. The Port Authority will give $83.2 million toward the renovation project while the developers will contribute $100 million.
“There’s been a long time when we’ve wondered, how do you transform what’s really just plastic unappealing space?” said Christopher Ward, the executive director of the Port Authority. “The challenge is, the industrial architecture of 1960s transportation facilities does not always lend itself to a modern retail world.”
The renovation will quadruple the retail space at the station to 120,000 square feet and increase the number of gates to 22 from 17, to help alleviate crowding, the Times said.
The renovation is slated to start in 2012 and be completed by spring 2013. Previous plans for renovations were shelved as a result of the financial crisis. [NYT]