Corner Entrance to Increase Transit Access With Prominent Street Visibility
View Rendering of 45th Street Entrance
View Video of News Conference
Video Photos of Event
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today joined with BXP, an office developer, owner, and manager, to break ground on a new accessible street entrance to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Grand Central Madison Concourse at 45th Street and Madison Avenue. The entrance is part of a public-private partnership in which BXP is redeveloping the site, which housed the MTA’s headquarters building from 1979 to 2014. The MTA retains underlying ownership of the land and BXP has agreed to build the entrance in advance of its anticipated office building in order to prioritize public access and benefit. The redevelopment plan, made possible through the Midtown East Rezoning which was designed to yield transit improvements, is expected to generate more than $1 billion in ground rent revenues, along with real estate taxes, to be dedicated to the MTA capital program.
The new entrance, expected to be completed in 18 months, will provide the approximate 72,000 daily riders that use Grand Central Madison another entry point to the LIRR’s 700,000 square foot terminal. Metro-North riders will also be able to access Grand Central Terminal via this street entrance through the concourse of Grand Central Madison. While construction is underway, BXP is marketing the proposed approximately 950,000 square foot premier Class A office building to rise above the entrance.
“Before beginning construction of a massive new office tower, BXP is getting started on a new accessible entrance,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “When the MTA moved downtown, we opened up a site for private sector development in what is the largest and densest concentration of high value-added jobs in the United States, and now we have the ultimate in transit access, because we have all of the MTA facilities coming right to Grand Central. This redevelopment would not have been possible without the East Midtown Rezoning. Over time, the revenue will support the MTA capital program and some of it will go to the City of New York – that’s the sharing of transit-oriented development and we are hoping this becomes more of the norm.”
“Midtown is all about great transit access,” said MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer. “Our private partners recognize that and are working with us to make the new Grand Central Madison more accessible through partnerships that keep public costs to a minimum. This is a great example of using City zoning tools and MTA investments in mass transit to unlock transit-oriented development.”
“With more and more people using Grand Central Madison, this street entrance will be a welcomed addition to the terminal’s footprint in Midtown Manhattan,” said MTA Long Island Rail Road President Rob Free. “It will increase accessibility to the terminal and complement the numerous benefits Grand Central Madison has introduced since it opened – shorter commute times, new travel options, more frequent service – all contributing to a better customer experience.”
"The new terminal access will create a more seamless experience for thousands of commuters and residents every single day, underscoring our commitment to enhance the quality of life in Midtown Manhattan," said Hilary Spann, Executive Vice President, New York Region, BXP. "Our vision to revitalize the district is in motion and we're in constant talks with the City and MTA about future development plans for the site."
In 2020, BXP was selected to redevelop the MTA's former headquarters site on Madison Avenue and demolition began in February 2021 to begin construction of the entrance.
Grand Central Madison’s Long Island Rail Road Concourse has five direct entrances to the street – at 42nd Street and 43rd Street through One Vanderbilt, at 47th Street inside 383 Madison Avenue, and two elevator-only entrances in freestanding buildings built by the MTA at 44th Street and 48th Street. Two other direct street entrances are planned north of 47th Street.
Additionally, Grand Central Madison connects directly to Metro-North’s east-west underground passageways at 47th Street and 45th Street, which offer entrances at Park Avenue and 48th Street and on 47th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues, as well as inside the Helmsley Walk located in Park Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets. A map of Grand Central Madison is available online.
“I’m very happy to have this in my district and I’m also proud of the work of all the local elected officials who worked on the East Midtown Rezoning,” said State Senator Liz Krueger. “I don't think any of us actually grasped what the potential really was when we did that as we are seeing from a number of projects underway. New York City is the breadbasket economically, for not just New York City, not just all of New York State, but for a four-state region, and this section of Manhattan is proving to be sort of the center of this breadbasket. It only works if we have a 21st century mass transit system, and so it is critical that we continue with projects like this and all the other projects that have been developed and proposed by the MTA staff and board.”
“Grand Central Madison is a really important project that we're very happy to complete and that brought people from all over the tri-state area, all over New York, into a real economic engine right here in Midtown,” said Assembly Member Alex Bores. “Having one big transit hub is important, but only if everyone can use it. Transportation only works if it works for everyone, so having projects like this that allow us a public-private partnership to bring people together to deliver accessibility is really important.”
“As you modernize East Midtown – especially at a really urgent moment to get new office space here that is really attractive to folks to come to the office – you're really pairing that with public realm and transportation benefits,” said New York City Council Member Keith Powers. “Over the last six or seven years, we've got the opportunity, in addition to this project, to also bring on the Grand Hyatt project, which will bring on a new transit hall for Grand Central; to do the JP Morgan project to keep a major economic engine here in the city in place; and we’re really redeveloping this area so that people that use this area have an opportunity to get in and out of here much quicker and in a much more modern way.”
About Grand Central Madison
Grand Central Madison is the largest passenger rail terminal to be built in the country in 67 years. The new schedules increased LIRR service levels by 41% and introduced direct access to Midtown East, the country’s biggest employment district. When it opened in January 2023, Grand Central Madison became the first terminal to connect the LIRR, Metro-North Railroad, and subway (, , , and lines) all under one roof, along with access to ten bus routes just a few steps outside. It quickly surpassed ridership of major iconic facilities like Boston’s South Station and Chicago’s Union Station, becoming the third-busiest commuter railroad hub in the country.
About BXP
BXP, Inc. (NYSE: BXP) is the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of premier workplaces in the United States, concentrated in six dynamic gateway markets - Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. BXP has delivered places that power progress for clients and communities for more than 50 years. BXP is a fully integrated real estate company, organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT). As of July 30, 2024, BXP’s portfolio, including properties owned by unconsolidated joint ventures, totaled 53.5 million square feet and 186 properties, with 10 properties under construction or redevelopment. For more information, visit www.bxp.com or follow BXP on LinkedIn or Instagram.