Transit Center Moves Forward on Fulton Street

Though it’s hard to tell from street level, construction at the $1.4 billion Fulton Street Transit Center is humming along and on schedule for completion in 2014.

In August, crews completed the station’s main foundation, along with the underpinning of the nine story, 121-year-old Corbin Building on the northeast corner of Broadway and John Street. Because the original brick foundation wasn’t deep enough to be stable, crews added 35 feet of concrete below the brick. Eventually, the building will be fully refurbished—including the grand marble staircase and terra cotta exterior—to house retail spaces and a connection to the main transit building. Construction of that building will begin later this month, said Judith Duffy, Assistant Director Government and Community Relations at New York City Transit. The terminal will include a glass façade, more than 26,000 square feet of retail space and an oculus in the ceiling that will filter light down onto subway waiting platforms. The building’s structural steel is scheduled to arrive in February and will be fully in place by August.

More milestones are ahead: The southbound R platform at Cortlandt Street will open later this year and include a new entrance on William Street. The northbound platform opened in November 2009. That station will connect to the Corbin Building via an underground walkway. And in 2012, The renovated 4/5 train section of the station will open—along with a new entrance on the ground level of the Corbin Building—with retail and escalators leading from the platforms to the street.

In 2014, the Fulton Transit Center will open as a world-class transit hub in the heart of Lower Manhattan. The finished product will improve connections to 10 subway lines: Fulton Street 2, 3, 4 5, J and Z; Broadway-Nassau Street A and C; Chambers Street-World Trade Center E; and Cortlandt Street R. Additionally, it will connect with the new Cortlandt Street 1 train station, World Trade Center Calatrava PATH Station and the World Financial Center.

Hard to imagine how it will all come together? Check out this video, courtesy of Brookfield Properties and the Wall Street Journal.