Second Ave. Sagas

Category: 7 Line Extension

  • There goes the 7 line extension

    That station at 41st and 10th Ave. will no longer be a part of the plans for the 7 line extension.

    The funding battles and plans for the 7 line extension are starting to mirror the tortured history of the Second Ave. Subway. For years, transit officials would plan the Second Ave. Subway, start the project and then stop work when the funds ran out. Stations were omitted from future plans; express tracks axed.

    Now, after decades of waiting for a Second Ave. Subway and seeing plans come and go, the 7 line extension is playing out a similar tale. This weekend, the news slipped under the radar a bit, but the story is still the same. Due to funding concerns, the MTA is cutting out one of the two planned stations for the 7 line extension to the Far West Side of Manhattan.

    To those of you following this story since the early days of this blog, this news is no surprise. In November, January and February, I wrote about how the MTA did not have enough money to build the planned station at 41st and 10th Ave. Instead, the Authority intended to build a station at 34th and 11th Ave. and a shell at 41st and 10th. While hardly cost efficient, this shell would allow for the new station at 10th Ave. when the money showed up.

    Not anymore. The shell, as The New York Times reported, is being discarded. William Neuman writes:

    The authority said it had received only one bid for the work, which includes digging the tunnels and excavating the space for the 34th Street station. The work was also to include the creation of a “shell” for an additional station at 10th Avenue and 41st Street. The contractor, the same consortium of companies that will dig the tunnels for the first phase of the Second Avenue subway, had originally submitted a bid that set the price for the work at $1.5 billion to $1.74 billion.

    In a summary of the contract prepared for board members, the authority said that to save money, it decided to eliminate the shell for the 10th Avenue station, and the contractor then agreed to do the work for $1.14 billion.

    In The Post, Jeremy Olshan reported that the shell would add another $500 million to the project. The MTA would have to cover any cost overruns, and this is money they simply do not have right now.

    “The real irony is that there are many more homes and businesses near the 10th Avenue station than near the Javits station,” MTA board member Andrew Albert said to Olshan. “The bottom line is this is going to cost us a lot more later.”

    I, for one, do not understand why the MTA, the real estate agents with holdings in the area and the City cannot reach some sort of deal. In the grand scheme of city finances, that $500 million should be fairly easy to come by. Considering that the MTA and the city are spending a combined $2.4 billion to build this tunnel extension and one station, the remaining $500 million really ought to be on the table.

    These reduced plans will come back to haunt us later when the MTA builds the new station at a cost well above $500 million. In that future, I’m sure officials will be ruing this decision. For once, foresight should be 20/20 too.

  • Copa, in the path of the 7, shuts its doors

    With apologies to Barry Manilow

    Her name is Seven, she was a subway
    With purple bullets in her front and a line right to Times Square
    She would meander and carry Mets fans
    And while she tried to head somewhere, the line just ended at Times Square
    But then came the M.T.A. Going west became a chore.
    They were bold and they had some money
    Past 10th Ave. and more.

    But there was the Copa, Copacabana
    Not quite the hottest spot west of Tenth Aven-yah
    At the Copa, Copacabana
    Gentrification was not quite in fashion
    At the Copa….it had to go.

    His name was Sander, he was the new guy.
    He said these plans are still on hold til the money is in gold
    But then the contracts they were awarded,
    But 11th was how far would roll the train car.
    And said old Kalikow, your club has got to go.
    There was a club and a single rail yard
    And then June was through.

    So there went the Copa, Copacabana
    No longer a hot spot on Eleventh Aven-yah.
    No more Copa, Copacapana.
    The outer-most boroughs might soon be in fashion
    With the Copa…it shut its doors.

  • MTA to sell Hudson Yards – for top price this time

    aerial_neighborhoods.jpg

    Got $1 billion? This could all be yours. (Image from the Department of City Planning)

    Remember the Hudson Yards redevelopment plans? Once upon a time, this midtown area of the Far West Side was the centerpiece of Mayor Bloomberg’s plans for residential and commercial growth in Manhattan. Those were the days.

    Now, the site barely registers on the Department of City Planning’s Website. With the ill-fated plans for the Jets Stadium long gone, the city has, thankfully, moved on to better and more useful projects. But the MTA, owners of highly valued land around the Hudson Yards site on the Far West Side, isn’t quite done yet.

    In fact, with the 7 line extension plans in the works, the city and the MTA are going to work together to sell some of this valuable land, and the asking price could be as high as $1.3 billion. According to a Reuters story, the Authority will begin to find developers for the 26-acre rail yard. As one of the largest — if not the biggest — tract of empty land in Manhattan, the MTA expects to receive a windfall sum for this land.

    The estimated $1.3 billion the MTA could fetch for this area will help fund the Second Ave. subway project, the 7 line extension and other various Capital Construction projects. “It’s certainly in the best interests of the city and state that we’re able to maximize our revenues,” an MTA spokesman said.

    In a few weeks, the MTA plans to hold public hearings on how the land should be used and will then issue design guidelines for developers. These hearings will focus on questions surrounding the availability of affordable housing and the mix of residential and commercial buildings. Notably, the MTA will hold onto the rail yards, and the developers will have to build a platform — for as much as $400 million — over the train storage and maintenance facility.

    These new plans are a marked departure from the 2005 shenanigans. At the time, the City, under Bloomberg, attempted to secure the land for a new Jets Stadium and an expanded Convention Center area. They offered the lowball sum of $300 million, and public forces mobilized to stop what would have been a damaging sale at the time. With the land appraised at a value of nearly $1 billion more than the City’s offer two years, the MTA looks to capitalize on what could have been a very costly mistake.

    On another note, the Friends of the High Line have to feel a little bit better about the fate of the norther section of the former freight line. “I think we would like to see it remain if that can happen without having a major impact on the revenue that the MTA gets from the site,” the MTA spokesman said. Good stuff.

  • MTA proceeding with 7 line extension process, for now

    The saga of the 7 line extension continues. A few weeks after MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander announced that the project was on hold while the city’s contributions to cost overruns was in question, the Transit Authority is proceeding apace with the project, funding be damned. For now.

    On Tuesday, the MTA awarded its first contracts for the project to extend the reach of the purple 7 to 34th St. and 11th Ave. But despite this allocation, the MTA is still proceeding with caution as the project may still exceed the $2.1 billion allocated for it by New York City. No one yet knows who will shoulder the burden for cost overruns.

    Metro, one of New York City’s two free dailies, reports on the developments:

    It’s full steam ahead for the 7 line extension — at least for now — as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority awarded a $35.8 million contract yesterday for a construction manager to oversee the project.

    But the new subway plan could be stopped in its tracks as early as this summer if the first round of construction bids comes in too high, warned Mysore Nagaraja, the head of MTA Capital Construction. The city is giving $2.1 billion for the 7 line extension, which will run from Times Square to Eleventh Avenue and 34th Street. Yet fears of cost overruns have led to finger-pointing between the city and the MTA over who would be stuck paying a higher final tab.

    Nagaraja was quoted in numerous news sources this evening as taking something of a hard line against the city’s refusal to cover cost overruns. “Right now, based on our estimate, we are within the 2.1,” he said, “but let’s see what happens with the proposals. We’re going to know whether we are under the budget or we’re going to be way over. At that time, decisions will have to be made between the city and the MTA as to whether we want to proceed with this.”

    So we’re at a standstill but not. The MTA is proceeding with caution as it approaches a project the City it would fund and then later added a caveat of $2.1 billion. I’m afriad we’ll see a shell station at 10th and 41st St. that will never be completed and a less-than-satisfactory resolution to this process. Maybe the City and the MTA can reach a compromise, but history is not on the side of a compromise between these two stubborn governing bodies.

  • Sander: 7 line extension on hold due to funding battle with City Hall

    In a surprising blow to the City’s plans to develop the Far West Side, MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander has put the plan to extend the 7 line on hold until cost overruns and other financial concerns can be addressed. Sander’s announcement has City Hall on the defensive as the Mayor’s Office won’t promise to fund cost overruns, and Sander won’t jeopardize other MTA construction projects.

    The Times reports:

    The new leadership of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority signaled yesterday that it had deep concerns over a deal with the city to build a $2.1 billion extension of the No. 7 subway line, saying the authority did not have the money to pay for possible cost overruns or other additional expenses.

    “It is M.T.A.’s position that we are under no legal obligation to absorb any additional costs or overruns,” Elliot G. Sander, the new chief executive, wrote in a letter to Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat. He was responding to a letter from Mr. Brodsky expressing concerns that the project could exceed its budget. Mr. Brodsky made Mr. Sander’s letter public yesterday.

    The conflict stems from the original agreement concerning the 7 line. Mayor Bloomberg, in an effort to promote his Hudson Yards project, hammered out a deal with the MTA where the city would pay for construction costs and the MTA would handle the project’s design and implementation. But this deal came with one caveat: The city’s contributions were to be set at $2.1 billion.

    Well, as reported in November, the project’s budget was on the rise due in part to a weak dollar and the need to purchase new subway cars from Japan. Now, Sander says the MTA, focusing on the Grand Central Terminal-LIRR railink and the Second Ave. subway, can’t assume the cost overruns, and City Hall ain’t budging.

    Deputy Mayor Daniel L. Doctoroff had some firm words for The Times. “Our view is that we certainly had an understanding and that the city would be responsible for all costs up to $2.1 billion and that the M.T.A. would bear the responsibility for costs above that. We’re going to sit down and talk, but our view is, the deal is the deal,” he said.

    Also involved in this brouhaha is Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky who oversees the Transit Authority. “If we keep to the basic principle, which is the city will pay and the M.T.A. will build, we’ll be O.K.,” Mr. Brodsky said to The Times. “But right now there are hundreds of millions to almost a billion dollars of costs that the M.T.A. would probably have to absorb that would endanger the Second Avenue line, the East Side link and other parts of the capital program, and that is simply unacceptable.”

    So now what?

    Well, someone has to blink in this game of New York politics, and hopefully, it will be the City. Right now, it’s clear that those on the MTA’s side are sticking up for this project. Sander has stressed the need for a Second Ave. subway and will not sacrifice these aims for the sake of the Hudson Yards development, a pet project seen as Bloomberg’s baby.

    Meanwhile, the City should take responsibility for the funding promises it has made. Already, plans for the 7 line extension may be cut to build to build a station only at 34th and 10th Ave. and a shell at 41st and 11th Ave. that could be renovated into a full station in the future. For the sake of the subway, the City should be willing to kick in money for any projected cost overruns and both stations. A completed projected now will be much cheaper in the long run than the need to complete another station in the indeterminate future.

    But for now, our Second Ave. subway is safe. It’s the silver lining in this dark and ugly cloud as two political powers face off over dollar signs.

  • Screwing over a neighborhood, one project at a time


    When last we checked in on the 7 line extension plans, amNY had just announced, to little fanfare, the MTA’s seemingly under-the-table plan to construt one of the two planned stops. While I was, at first, skeptical of the reality of these cuts, it seems that I was wrong.

    Ten days ago, The Daily News noted some rumblings and grumblings about the plan. But the story came to a head today when amNY reported on the planned efforts of transit advocates to bring attention to these plans.

    [Nonvoting rider MTA board representative Andrew] Albert and the New York City Transit Riders Council are scheduled to hold a news conference Monday morning along with elected officials to demand the creation of the 41st Street station.

    “Thousands of people live in the area. They deserve a station,” Albert said. “Its an insult to watch the trains whiz by your neighborhood.”

    Even worse Albert said, the MTA’s own bean counters estimate, that if they build the 41st Street station now it would cost $200 million, but to wait several years to build it the cost could easily top $400 million.

    As details have emerged about the scaled-back plan, we can put together a clearer picture of the planned extension. The MTA will construct a new tunnel that follows 41st St. to 11th Ave. and then heads south down 11th Ave. to a turnaround point at 23rd St. and 11th Ave. Original plans called for a station at 41st and 10th and a terminal at 34th and 11th.

    But now, to keep the project under budget, the city will build a shell station at 41st and 10th and only one operating station at 34th and 11th. This so-called shell station could then be converted into an operating station at “some point in the future.”

    As rider advocates work to deliver a true extension that could serve Hell’s Kitchen – a vibrant residential area in need of a subway stop – Lee Sander, the proactive new CEO of the MTA, said he would take a look at building the station at 41st and 10th now rather than later.

    For more on the 7 line extension, check out all of the technical documents at the MTA’s Capital Construction Web site. This track image comes from the Scoping Document.

  • 7 extension funding in place

    A few short days ago, it seemed as though the 7 line extension project might be scaled back. Well, not only were these cuts scrapped, but the funding for this capital construction project seems to be in place now as well, The New York Post reported today.

    The city took its first practical step toward building a subway extension to the far West Side yesterday when investors gobbled up bonds totaling $2 billion for the project, clearing the way for construction to begin in late spring.

    “This is definitely going ahead. The money has been raised and construction will begin,” Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff said of the extension of the No. 7 line to 11th Avenue and 34th Street, where will anchor a new business district.

    These bond will be repaid by the taxes taken in by the nearly 24 million square feet of office space that should follow the two new stops on the 7 line.

    For years, the far West Side in the area around the approaches to the Lincoln Tunnel has resembled a wasteland. Car dealerships and repair shops dot a landscape often choked with cars waiting to get into the tunnel. The bus, never a speedy choice, is the only public transportation option, and the nearest subway stops are at 8th Avenue.

    But in a few years, the subways should reach to the far West Side as the 7, immortalized by John rocker, will soon stop at 41st St. and 11th Ave. and 34th St. and 11th Ave. The tracks themselves will extend down to 23rd and 11th, maybe portending a future stop.

    With the 7, this area should immediately become more attractive to businesses and potential residents alike. The 7 offers a connection to the Times Square trains; the B, D, F and V at Bryant Park; and the Grand Central trains before heading into Queens. But I have to wonder if that Lincoln Tunnel and the traffic it breeds will be more of a factor than viable public transportation?

    For more on the 7 line extension, check out all of the technical documents at the MTA’s Capital Construction Web site. This track image comes from the Scoping Document.

  • 7 line extension costs on the rise, one station axed?

    Once upon a time, the planned extension of the 7 line was all the rage. Serving the far West Side, the new 7 stops at 41st and 10th Ave. and 34th and 11th Ave. were going to usher in a new age of residential life for those people who may one day live on the current Hudson Yards site.

    And oh yeah, that 7 line extension was supposed to serve the most ill-fated of ill-fated ideas: the Jets’ stadium on the West Side. When the stadium went down in flames, the plans to extend the 7 line went with it. In fact, earlier this year, one transportation advocacy group wondered whatever happened to the 7 line extension plans.

    Well, according to amNew York, the costs of the project are on the rise, and one of the two planned stations may need to be axed:

    The MTA estimates it will need an extra 110 subway cars to go along with its planned No. 7 extension, according to agency documents.

    Those new cars — which could cost $176 million — will not be paid for by City Hall under its agreement to fund the No. 7 extension, Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Tim O’Brien said yesterday.

    But the cost rises are hardly the compelling story here. According to amNew York, a dubious source at best, one of the planned stations has been officially cut from the plans:

    Most vexing to some MTA members is the 10th Avenue station has been officially axed.

    “The smart thing to do is finish the station at 10th and 41st,” said Barry Feinstein, the longest-serving MTA board member and chairman of the New York City Transit committee on Monday. “[But] we don’t have money in the the capital plan to do that…”

    “It’s crazy,” said Andrew Albert, a rider representative on the MTA board, who promised to keep fighting for the 10th Avenue station.

    Right now, amNew York is the only paper of note to pick up this story that I’ve found. It’s hard to believe that if the tales of the 10th Avenue station being dropped were completely accurate, no one else would cover it. For now, take it with a grain of salt. But as the costs of all the other recent MTA capital improvement plans have continued to rise, can this story really be that far off the mark?