« 4 Percent Is The New 3 Percent Hey, Something Sold! »

January 6, 2009

Bungle in the Concrete Jungle: The MTA and 370 Jay

370-Jay-Street-Brooklyn-0109.jpgWho signs a $1.6 billion office lease when they've already got a perfectly good building at their disposal? The same geniuses who've managed to rack up a project 2009 budget deficit of $1.2 billion, that's who. The MTA, which has possession of 370 Jay Street through its master lease with the city, started vacating the building in 2001, and since then has let structure and surrounding subway entrance deteriorate into a "disgraceful mess," according to a recent newsletter from the Manhattan Institute. This despite numerous pleas from public officials. "For nearly five years, this building has been vacant, an empty shell amid the teeming life of the neighborhood and devoid of people, the area around the building has become a magnet for trash," Borough President Marty Markowitz told the Brooklyn Paper last October. "If people's initial taste of Brooklyn is a smelly subway stop and a dark, empty, trash-strewn plaza, it can't help but color their impression." The MTA now says it plans to renovate the building to the tune of $150 million and repopulate with back-office workers. Downtown Brooklyn Partnership president Joe Chan and Council Member David Yassky would like to see it turned into a small business incubator, a use more in line with the refurbished image of the Downtown area.
Blight by Government [Manhattan Institute] GMAP
No Love for MTA on Jay [Brownstoner]
Downtown to MTA: Sell 370 Jay St [Brooklyn Paper]
Photo from MTA Please Fix Jay




Posted by Brownstoner at 10:28 AM | Comments (17)
Categories: Commercial Real Estate, Downtown Brooklyn

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/7840

Comments

I never thought I'd see incompetence that went beyond that of the Post Office until I moved to NYC and started learning about the MTA.

The board and the management should be fired and all the union contracts renegotiated.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 6, 2009 10:43 AM

Another example of MTA arrogance and lack of consideration to neighborhood is building on Smith corner of Wyckoff.
(switching station?)
Affront to the area and local politicians seem powerless to change it.

Posted by: Petebklyn at January 6, 2009 10:47 AM

Small tenant office market still active and by far the greatest tenant need in DB area. This building divides down well for smaller offices, is a strongly locatoin could command court street rents. Chan's call for a lease to a developer of the upper floors while leaving the TA with needed space would work wonders as long as retail addressed.

Posted by: chrishavens at January 6, 2009 11:00 AM

When I moved to Brooklyn, Citibank was still there, there were flowers and plants in those enormous cement planters, and the area was part of the whole downtown fabric of business and commerce. The scaffolding has been there since forever, which has always made it hard for people to access the 4 plus bus routes that have stops at that corner of Jay and Willoughby. All those people waiting around forever for a bus are going to generate trash, unfortunately. The planters were the first casualty, becoming gigantic ashtrays and garbage pits, the plants dead because of the scaffolding anyway.

The bank was the only branch of Citibank in the downtown area. Montague St. is a long way from Jay and Willoughby, so it was a real inconvenience when that closed. I know there were long standing plans to put a Barnes and Noble or Borders there. That would really have upscaled the area, and made it a destination. It's a big space, I hope the MTA's grand plan includes revitalizing this perfectly good retail space.

Dave is right, they are the worst run, most poorly managed city agency I've ever seen. Perhaps they'd have more money is they stopped giving their real estate away to underbidding gigantic developers. The public gets screwed twice in this situation. Once in the loss of revenue, and again in higher fares and reduced service. Thanks a lot.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at January 6, 2009 11:01 AM

How about them MTA workers: I witnessed this cleaner pour a gal of clorox bleach on the "Q" platform on 34th St station in front of everyone, my train doors open, the fume was toxic and I got teary eyes! Then he walked away and didn't come back. Wtf, guess they hire real professionals at MTA.

Posted by: cb6 at January 6, 2009 11:04 AM

That building's too downscale for the bigwigs at the MTA. They prefer the luxury of new buildings, like 2 Broadway and 130 Livingston. I think they still use a part of it to back the armored cars in and count their money (oops, I meant our money).

Posted by: denton at January 6, 2009 11:19 AM

This is a perfect demonstration of the incompetence and stupidity of the MTA AND our politicians:

Clearly the MTA doesnt need the space and throwing 150M at the building just to "hold" the space from being sold by the city is incompetence to the point of criminality and

using a vlauable asset for some pie in the sky business "incubator" in the middle of a deep recession and the city is facing huge deficits is beyond stupid.

Heres an idea - SELL THE BUILDING - Neither the Government or the MTA should be growing in the next 3 years, so sell the building and pay down some of the cities long-term debt.

Disgraceful - and telling that MORONS like Gersh Kuntzman spend countless pages screaming about the waste of AY and barely a mention of this $100-300M boondoggle in the middle of downtown

Posted by: fsrg at January 6, 2009 11:24 AM

I don't know if the MTA is a city agency - but it's a prime example of the abysmal way this state is run. Hacks like Shelly Silver controlling the agenda and funneling money to inefficient redundant bureaucracies like the MTA and the LDMC. If we didn't have these leeches the state would be in pretty good shape.

Posted by: jawbreaker at January 6, 2009 11:34 AM

Petebklyn, I thought the MTA sold the building at Smith and Wyckoff.

MM, it may have become a Citibank, but you can still see (Calling Kevin Walsh!) where it used to say First National City Bank above the door. Also, it's not a city agency, but a state chartered public authority. That's almost a prescription for poor management.

denton, the armored trucks go someplace else now.

fsrq, how's this for another idea? Instead of putting a new middle school in the Two Trees building (or under the House of Detention; loved that idea), put it here. Single floor; separate dedicated entrance; convenient to transportation.

Posted by: g man at January 6, 2009 11:41 AM

gman - sure if that is cheaper for the city then the 2trees deal why not - and then write a 99 yr lease on the school space and SELL THE BUILDING so as to free up wasted capital.

Posted by: fsrg at January 6, 2009 12:11 PM

G-man, First National City Bank became plain ol' Citibank. It is great to see all of the old signs. I love the Art Deco FNCB building at Canal and Broadway, in Manhattan. The name is prominantly incised on the front and sides. Alas, a Payless Shoes now, but at least it's still there.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at January 6, 2009 12:14 PM

They better tear this down soon, the goo-goos are making noises about landmarking it. I guess it is a world-class example of a municipal eyesore. If it gets landmarked, it will probably sit empty and decay for another twenty years or until it self-implodes.

Posted by: sam at January 6, 2009 1:25 PM

sam - i assume your kidding

Posted by: fsrg at January 6, 2009 1:27 PM

I am not kidding. This is an early modernist masterpiece don't you know? Check out the MAS website.

Posted by: sam at January 6, 2009 1:39 PM

g-man...putting the Two Trees middle school at 370 Jay instead of as the carrot for the blight that will be Dock Street is very thought-provoking. How much would it cost to make 370 Jay into the same size vanilla box that Two Trees had promised? Anyone?

Posted by: Daddy Mack at January 6, 2009 4:56 PM

Brownstoner, thanks for the photo credit.

Yes, with fares skyrocketing it is unconscionable that the MTA not only has this little vacant building sitting around vacant, it wants to dump $150 million into it. That is a huge problem.

But also, why can't they treat their riders with a little respect and clean the thing? Put some plants in the planters, scrape all that chipping paint.

Finally, why cant they stop people from parking in the bus stops? Its insane that a bus rider has to wait under a sidewalk shed on top of a subway grate, and then when the bus comes walk around parked cars, over the bike lane into traffic to get on the bus.

Meanwhile the entire street is at gridlock because the bus must stop in the middle of the travel lane to pick up passengers.

So much mismanagement, so little cyberspace.

http://mtapleasefixjay.blogspot.com

Posted by: Fix 370 Jay Street at January 6, 2009 6:02 PM

We agree. Including with the choice of the word "bungle" which we ourselves used Wednesday. See: Noticing New York's Reject the “Bundle” Bungle: Saying “No” to Walentas Dock Street Project Next to the Brooklyn Bridge (Wednesday, February 4, 2009)
http://noticingnewyork.blogspot.com/2009/02/reject-bundle-bungle-saying-no-to.html

Posted by: MDDW at February 7, 2009 1:02 AM

Post a comment

Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.

Latest Restaurant Additions