NEW YORK (AP) -- A glass and steel office tower will rise above the nation's biggest bus terminal in the next several years, an official familiar with the plan said.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the midtown Manhattan terminal, was to announce a deal Friday with developers Lawrence Ruben Company and Vornado Realty Trust to build the tower above the north end of the depot. The tower would be built by 2013, officials said.
The agency will secure $400 million to $500 million in air rights for the Port Authority Bus Terminal, money that will be used to add 18 gates and improve the indoor experience for passengers who board buses to and from New Jersey, according to a government official familiar with the plan.
The agency entered into exclusive negotiations with the developers six months ago for the 1.3 million-square-foot tower.
"We've been working very hard to reach an agreement that leverages substantial private money to reinvest for the benefit of our customers, the neighborhood and the region,'' Port Authority spokesman Stephen Sigmund told The New York Times. The newspaper's new headquarters building is one of several new and planned developments in the once-rundown area around the bus terminal, which is a block west of Times Square.
Port officials and Gov. Eliot Spitzer were to announce the development plans at a news conference Friday.
The 42nd Street terminal is the biggest bus depot in the country, according to the Port Authority. About 200,000 riders pass through the terminal each day.
The building dates to 1950, and proposals to build over it go back to the 1990s.
