When the roughly $4 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub finally opens next month — after major delays and huge cost overruns — it will do so without any fanfare from public officials.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bistate agency that controls the Santiago Calatrava-designed, 365,000-square-foot train station, considered an event on Friday, but by Monday it was nixed.
“The thing is a symbol of excess,” Patrick Foye, the authority’s executive director, told Politico.
Designed by Spanish architect Calatrava, who famously said he’d been “treated like a dog,” the cavernous white train station with steel ribs jutting out has been a source of both vitriol and praise.
Regardless of the architectural preference, the Oculus cost about $4 billion in taxpayer money, and compared with the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Penn Station, it won’t serve that many commuters, Politico reported. It will connect to 11 different subway lines and PATH, and serve around 200,000 passengers and visitors.
Westfield Group will operate a $1.4 billion shopping center at the facility, with tenants to include Apple, Daniel Boulud, Eataly and others.
Retail spaces at the complex range from 800 to 8,000 square feet. The company says it expects to do $700 million to $1 billion in annual retail sales — between $2,000 to $3,000 per square foot. [Politico] — Dusica Sue Malesevic