College Point is a residential neighborhood in Northern Queens located just west of the Whitestone Expwy(I-678). This area of the expressway is often known as the Van Wyck Expwy, which is also the official name for I-678 south of Northern Blvd. The community is known for its urban-suburban blend that offers larger homes and still includes access to a variety of amenities. Shopping strips on both College Point Blvd and 20th Ave offer residents the ability to run errands without leaving the neighborhood. 20th Ave includes popular grocery and big box stores including Target, ShopRite and BJ’s. On the other hand, College Point Blvd hosts more of the small businesses you would typically expect on a NYC commercial corridor.
The old Safari Golf in the Eltingville section of Staten Island was once the go to for those wanting to have fun in the borough. It evolved multiple times in its 70-year history and was a source of entertainment in multiple forms. The facility went from a drive-in restaurant and arcade known as Al Deppe’s between the 20s and the 60s, to Safari Golf and Val’s Pizzeria from the 90s to 2010. Staten Islanders across several generations shared fond memories of fun, pizza and family time at what was once a South Shore funplex.
Staten Island is New York City’s least populous borough and is considered by many to have a suburban feel. Many people from the other boroughs and Staten Island alike even refer to the borough as a suburb in conversation. This suburban feel is due to the prevalence of detached single-family houses throughout most neighborhoods in the borough. In turn, these homes form communities that have a much lower density than communities in other boroughs.
Staten Island is the most car-centric and least densely populated borough in New York City. Despite this fact, the borough would be America’s 39th most populous city if it were its own municipality, ranking higher than cities like Miami, Cleveland, and Minneapolis. In addition, 17% of Staten Island households do not have access to a car, which is still significantly higher than the U.S rate of 8.3%. Nowhere is Staten Island’s urban feel more apparent than on the Island’s North Shore, with a car-free household rate of 29% and a population density similar to neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. Mass transit options here include a robust bus network with local buses that could get you just about anywhere on the Island. There are also various express bus routes that connect almost every neighborhood to Manhattan. In addition to buses, some parts of the North Shore also have a train line known as the Staten Island Railway(SIR), that connects the south and west parts of the Island to St. George on the Island’s North and East Shore. Though not considered part of the subway system, the SIR runs with subway trains on a subway-like line with lower headways than NYC subway routes.
The NYC Subway is the lifeblood of New York City and one of the primary ways people get around. In 2022, 3.2 million people rode the subway daily in 2022 despite hybrid/remote work being more common. While the subway is often the best way to travel, many New Yorkers hate riding it due to delays, cleanliness and a slew of other issues. On top of that, New Yorkers are considered by some to be among the most stressed out people in America. A study from the research firm William Russell considered the NYC the most stressed city in America for several reasons including its high cost of living. A TimeOut article on the topic even mentioned “perennial subway delays” in a sentence on stressors that are just so common here in our city. You can check out that article here: https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/nyc-is-officially-the-most-stressed-out-city-in-the-united-states-011222
Given these circumstances, you might think New Yorkers would love a coffee, donut or even bacon egg and cheese sandwich to start their work day. It turns out, Dunkin Donuts has this figured out, with locations adjacent to many subway stations throughout the boroughs. They even have three locations within Penn Station and another one in Fulton Center.
These strategic locations are no accident and Dunkin’s franchise selection strategy along with other aspects of its business allow it to take advantage of locations adjacent to transit. For one, out of the donut chain’s five criteria for selecting locations, four of them are directly connected to the transportation infrastructure around them. These include an available drive thru, one parking space per three seats, an easy entrance and exit and having a highly visible location. As for drive thrus and parking spaces, these are likely not weighed as heavily in New York City due to the high percentage of residents that do not drive. However, subway stations definitely support the latter two, as stations tend to be in walkable locations with high foot traffic.
In addition to location itself, the cost and space required to open a Dunkin Donuts is considerably less compared to other fast food chains. This allows the chains to multiply faster in the areas both Dunkin and franchisees see fit. As for cost, the initial investment for a Dunkin Donuts can be anywhere from $121,400-$1,809,500 according to the company website. This is in comparison with $297K-$2.1M for Pizza Hut, $575,600 to $3,370,100 for Taco Bell and $1,314,500 and $2,313,295 for McDonalds. Lower costs are especially beneficial for Dunkin Donuts franchisees given what may be higher rents near subway stations.
Outside of initial costs, Dunkin locations are generally much more flexible as far as space is concerned than other fast food restaurants. Since many Dunkin customers take coffees and small treats to go, there can be varyings eating levels if there is seating at all. There are even Dunkin Donuts locations that function primarily as kiosks such as the one in Fulton Center. Others are standing room only locations such as the one in Marble Hill, Manhattan, and some offer limited seating such as the one on Eastern Pkwy adjacent to the Franklin Av-Medgar Evers College(2,3,4,5) station in Brooklyn. On the other hand, other chains such as McDonalds and Taco Bell need a certain amount of seating and space to accommodate their respective functions as a lunch/dinner spot. In fact, Taco Bell only recently opened a new restaurant variant known as Taco Bell Cantina that is designed to better spatially accommodate urban areas. Taco Bell Head of Public Relations Matt Prince told CNBC in 2019, “So typically when you think of Taco Bell’s you think of suburban and rural areas with drive thru. These are very different. These are in walkable downtown spaces.“ He also stated, “We want to make sure that they feel like they’re part of the community that they’re in and so people come in and feel like they have a unique experience.” With flexible locations in urban areas, Dunkin Donuts had already achieved for years what Taco Bell set out to achieve in 2019 with its Taco Bell Cantina locations.
Dunkin Donuts in smaller storefront adjacent to the Franklin Av-Medgar Evers College(2,3,4,5) station in Brooklyn.Neighborhod-specific signage at Dunkin Donuts in Marble Hill, Manhattan.
While Dunkin’s business model often brings it near subway stations, what has really driven Dunkin’s subway-side boom is what matters most to businesses. This business driver is indeed the customer! Dunkin Donuts are unique in that its business caters directly to the needs of the commuter. In the morning, a subway rider who just had a long commute might want to grab a cup of coffee or a small breakfast item. At the end of the day, a commuter might be in the mood for a donut or one of the chain’s other dessert offerings. The same cannot be said for Popeyes, Taco Bell or most other fast food chains, that specialize in a smaller range of meal options. The closest chain to Dunkin Donuts as far as product diversity is McDonalds with its all-day breakfast as well as lunch/dinner options. However, besides some breakfast items, most of its products are associated with full meals rather than quick bites that could be had before getting on the train. Additionally, while subway stations can help drive traffic for any fast food establishment, these businesses often need other business drivers such as nearby employment and recreational destinations. On the other hand, Dunkin Donuts can cater to a commuter in any community.
As Dunkin Donuts is really popular amongst New Yorkers, it is interesting to think about what allows a business to perform well in any given market. With Dunkin, it’s impressive how their restaurant concept fits perfectly into the needs of New Yorkers and the challenges of operating a business in the city. Thanks to the chain’s versatility, it has been successful near NYC subway stations and across the United States. As a result, Dunkin Donuts has told Americans since its 2006 rebranding, “America Runs On Dunkin!”
Midtown Manhattan is arguably the commercial, cultural and recreational hub of both New York City and the World. Many prominent corporations have headquarters in Midtown such as JPMorgan Chase, Calvin Klein and Marvel to name a few. Midtown is also a hub for the entertainment industry, with Broadway Theatre and other performing arts venues attracting millions from around the world annually. Additionally, Midtown is known for a slew of other tourist attractions that attract millions of yearly visitors each such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Times Square, and Rockefeller Center. If that is any indicator, Midtown is well traversed by both locals and tourists alike.
While Midtown is the hub of many things, it is not the hub of government offices. The headquarters and offices of most government agencies in New York City tend to be concentrated in Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn. However, the MTA was once an exception, with their headqaurters on Madison Avenue between 44th and 45th Streets at 343 Madison Ave. Between 1998 and 2014, much of MTA operations were decentralized with many employees at their current Financial District headquarters, the Madison Avenue location, and another site at 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn. However, the latter two sites were closed due to financial difficulties and a desire for the MTA to consolidate office operations. Hence, workers at both buildings have since moved to the Financial District office at 2 Broadway just outside the Bowling Green(4,5) subway station. The Brooklyn site is now home to the NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress(CUSP).
Current MTA Headquarters at 2 Broadway(light blue building) as seen from boat in New York Harbor.
As for the Madison Avenue HQ, this site has had a more tumultuous story since its closure. Upon closing the building, the MTA looked for a developer to redevelop the property and generate revenue for the often cash-strapped transit agency. In 2020, the MTA chose Boston Properties out of nine potential bidders in order to redevelop the site. Properties owned by the developer include the Times Square Tower where the main entrance to the Times Sq-42nd St station is located, Dock 72 in Brooklyn, and many other buildings in Midtown Manhattan. However following the deal, there was a dispute between the MTA and former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio between how the money would be shared between the transit agency and the city in the form of property taxes. The mayor had touted the proposed redevelopment as made possible by his East Midtown Rezoning, which included provisions for taller buildings like the one that was eventually proposed for the site. Ultimately, the parties reached a compromise that involved $600 million in revenue being counted toward the city’s $2.66 billion contribution to the MTA’s 2015-19 Capital Plan. The redevelopment will now generate over $1 billion for both the city and MTA.
After 7 years of being abandoned, the City Council finally approved plans for a 55-story office skyscraper that has since been scaled down to 49 stories. In addition to adding yet another building to the city’s iconic skyline, the building will include retail and underground connections to Grand Central Terminal. Despite the boom of hybrid work, workers are increasingly headed back into NYC offices. According to a study by The Partnership for New York City, 58% of Manhattan office workers were working in-person post-Labor Day 2023. That was up from 52% in late January and 49% in September 2022. As many prefer hybrid work due to commute times, 343 Madison Avenue will be a very desirable office location due to its direct connection to Grand Central Terminal, especially with the new Grand Central Madison being fully operational. Additionally, many workers will almost certainly be more inclined to work in a newer building with modern amenities than they would in one of East Midtown’s other buildings whose average age is more than 70 years old.
In addition to adding offices, the new development is one of many projects that will help East Midtown stay competitive as a core business district. As other areas of Midtown grow and more jobs are located in the outer boroughs, having desirable facilities in East Midtown is imperative to bringing more business in the neighborhood. Many of East Midtown’s current buildings are less attractive to corporations due to flaws such as low floor to ceiling heights and a multitude of interior columns. Some office buildings with these issues were even converted to hotels pre-pandemic such as the Marriott Courtyard at 866 Third Avenue, the Library Hotel at 299 Madison Avenue, and the Condominiums at 5 E 44th St. This is why the city rezoned the neighborhood in 2017 to address these issues and usher in new development that would make companies continue to want East Midtown space. The rezoning was also done to help take advantage of the opportunities created by projects such as Grand Central Madison and a possible extension of the Second Avenue Subway south of 72nd St in the future. The 343 Madison Ave project is just one of several that will contribute to the rezoning’s goal.
The new skyscraper is scheduled to be completed by 2026. Before construction can start, the demolition of the former MTA HQ that is nearing completion must be finished. The demolition, which has been ongoing since 2022, is likely not finished due to the complexity of demolishing such a large structure. When a structure is demolished, many steps must be taken to ensure the safety of the surrounding community and that hazardous materials such as asbestos are not leaked into the air. The hazards associated with asbestos are part of why many people who lived or worked near Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks contracted asbestos-related cancers. Due to environmental concerns and surrounding buildings, the building cannot just simply be imploded. Even the use of a wrecking ball would likely be unfeasible due its tendency to swing past its intended targets, which could spell disaster in a place as dense as Midtown. In fact, wrecking balls and implosion are not permitted anywhere in NYC likely for these reasons.
Signage indicating demolition at 343 Madison Ave.Part of former MTA HQ that is being demolished at 343 Madison Ave.Part of former MTA HQ that is being demolished at 343 Madison Ave.
As demolition continues, it is unclear if construction on the skyscraper will be delayed as the average skyscraper takes about 2-10 years to build. On top of that, New York builds skyscrapers at a significantly lower rate than other U.S cities. This may make some New Yorkers skeptical of the 2026 completion timeline. The MTA has $15M in its 2020-24 Capital Plan earmarked for added costs connected to the demolition and sale of 343 Madison Ave. This initiative is scheduled to end in June 2025 and it is not clear what specific costs the agency is referring to. However, the “sale” might refer to Boston Properties selling a 45% stake in the property to an undisclosed investor though its still unclear what role the MTA had or world have had in the sale.
While the construction status of the building may be uncertain, the future for 343 Madison Avenue is definitely bright. As we are just a few years past wondering if workers would ever enter offices again, projects like office buildings remain prevalent in our society. It is also part of NYC’s tremendous economic comeback which has seen private sector employment exceed pre-pandemic levels. As sitework continues, this project will undoubtedly set the table for tremendous growth in East Midtown on the land previously occupied by the agency that keeps New York City moving.
New York City is the largest city in the United States and is the nation’s cultural, commercial and financial center. Thanks to its vast public transit system, New Yorkers are able to traverse the city without the use of a car and avoid traffic. Given how hard it can be to drive in the city, riding transit allows you to notice things about your surroundings that you just wouldn’t if you were behind the wheel. There are many institutions that everyone knows about, such as the Statue of Liberty, Museum of Natural History or Broadway Theatre to name a few. However, there are many significant places don’t get that immediate recognition. In this series, I will highlight many of these places and share the history and significance of them. I am also going to discuss how public transit has contributed to the locations’ history as well as the surrounding community. I hope that this series can help to spread awareness of the importance of transit to life in New York and how transit has truly shaped what the city has become. Join me for the ride.
The most notable destination in the Willets Point neighborhood in Queens is undoubtedly Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. Despite most considering Citi Field part of Flushing, the stadium sits entirely in Willets Point according to Google Maps. Additionally, both the subway and LIRR stations adjacent to the stadium are both named Mets-Willets Point.
The Kingsbridge Armory was built in The Bronx on W Kingsbridge Rd and Jerome Ave next to the Kingsbridge Rd(4) subway station in 1917. The armory is also in close vicinity to Fordham Rd, I-87(Major Deegan Expressway), Mosholu Pkwy, Henry Hudson Pkwy, and other major roadways. The armory’s purpose, along with six other large armories in Manhattan and Brooklyn, was to help train National Guard soldiers and store military equipment, including during World War II. While the National Guard was formerly known for putting down protests, strikes, and riots during the Industrial Revolution, new labor laws, such as the eight-hour workday and minimum wage laws, had largely met the desires of workers. Additionally, these new laws led to the public not viewing worker protests as a threat to capitalism or the American economy as they knew it. Hence, the new armories, like the one in Kingsbridge, were part of an era when the National Guard transformed into an organization that, while still a part of the military, held a strong interest in the common good and stability for the communities it served.
The area surrounding Queens Borough Hall in the Kew Gardens area of Queens has a high activity density and is bustling with vehicular and pedestrian traffic daily. The community is home to multiple important borough offices, such as Queens Borough Hall and Queens County Criminal Court. In addition a school known as Archbishop Malloy High School, with about 1,560 students is located in the area. The community is served by the E and F trains at both the Kew Gardens-Union Tpke and Briarwood stations, the LIRR at the Kew Gardens station, and a plethora of bus routes that traverse Queens. Major roadways such as the Van Wyck Expressway(I-678), the Grand Central Pkwy, the Jackie Robinson Pkwy, and Queens Blvd also pass through the area, making the community easily accessible by car from throughout Queens and the New York Metropolitan Region. As many of the areas surrounding Kew Gardens lack subway access and have high car ownership rates, many people might choose to drive to one of the subway/commuter rail stations and park their vehicles, and more might do it in the future upon the implementation of congestion pricing below 60th street in Manhattan.
As you might expect, just like in other areas of the city, parking is likely hard to come by due to the area’s connection to major vehicular thoroughfares and key destinations. As congestion tends to be high on both the Queens Blvd service road as well as local residential streets, cars searching for parking likely contribute to this congestion, contributing to slow travel speeds for both those in search of parking as well as through traffic.
Hence, to help ease parking issues in the community, the NYCDOT recently constructed a new municipal parking garage at 80-25 126th St, located on 126th St between the Grand Central Pkwy eastbound service road and 82nd Ave near Queens Blvd. The garage offers 600 total spaces, including, 30 ADA-accessible spaces and 40 Bicycle spaces. The ADA-accessible spaces will be especially critical for those who need it considering that it likely is already difficult to find parking near major destinations in the community and the garage is near the ADA-accessible Kew Gardens-Union Tpke(E,F) station. The bicycle spaces will help those who choose to cycle to the area and take advantage of nearby cycling infrastructure such as the protected bike lanes on Queens Blvd and the expansive networks of bike trails in the nearby Forest and Flushing Meadows Parks respectively.
New parking garage at 80-25 126th St.
The garage also includes 34 electric vehicle(EV) charging spaces, with 3 of them offering DC Fast chargers that allow EV owners to charge battery-electric vehicles(BEV) from empty to 80% in 20 minutes to an hour, which makes them among the fastest EV chargers out there. While the also common Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles(PHEV) generally do not work with DC Fast chargers and the rest of the chargers in the garage will be the EV standard, most EV owners charge their vehicles at home, and thus they will likely not rely on the parking garage for their regular charging regimens. However, the Level 2 charging stations that can charge from empty to 80 percent in BEVs in 4-10 hours and PHEV’s for 1-2 hours respectively, can still be useful to help give EV motorists the opportunity to give their vehicles and extra boost if needed for a specific situation or for charging when the motorist is parking for a long period of time for purposes such as a long outing, work or to commute somewhere else with the subway or LIRR.
In addition to making parking available for all, the parking spaces will have an impact in the community beyond parking and even motorists as a whole. As less cars will likely be circling the neighborhood for parking, the will mean less congestion for other road users, which should speed up travel times for users of local roads. This is especially important given the high rates of congestion surrounding streets near Queens Borough Hall at most hours of the day including primarily residential ones, according to Google Maps’ traffic forecast. As a significant amount of area residents own vehicles and many parts of Queens and nearby Nassau County are hard to get to by mass transit, less congestion on residential streets will make it much easier for residents to make trips by personal vehicle. Less congestion on busy streets such as Queens Blvd and Kew Gardens Rd also benefit small businesses that benefit from their customers being able to pull up close to them, rather than those spots being taken for long periods for time by those going to the nearby offices or even subway stations who might not return for many hours upon parking.
While that parking garage itself will likely serve as an uncontroversial solution to a common transportation issue in reference to parking, the garage was built as part of a bigger, non-transportation based project that is anything but. The parking garage was the first step as part of a project to build a new 886-bed jail at the site of what is currently the shuttered Queens Detention Complex as well as the east side of the former surface parking lot. It is worth noting that there will also be a smaller, underground 305-space parking lot for jail staff, so all of the parking in the recently finished garage will be for public use. Hence, the only way that the project’s ability to mitigate parking demand can be diminished is if a high number of people visiting inmates daily take up a disproportionate amount of spots.
Former Queens Detention Complex shown on July 15th 2023 is set for demolition this summer.Signage outside of former Queens Detention Complex regarding demolition this summer.
According to New York City Department of Corrections data from July-September 2012 when there were about 10,000 inmates on Rikers Island on a given day and there were about 1,700 total visitors on a given day. This would mean that 17% of inmates had visitors assuming each inmate that had a visitor each day only had one. However, assuming inmates in the new facility receive visitors at a similar rate and 46% of those visitors have cars that would mean that about 69 spaces out of the 600 in the garage would be of those visiting inmates. I used 46% for this estimate as 46% of NYC households have a car, and an inmate could have visitors from anywhere in the city. Since the NYCDOC currently operates buses from two central NYC sites to Rikers Island for those intending to visit inmates with plans to expand, it is likely that many if not most visiting the Island live in locations throughout the City of New York. While Rikers Island is known for its remote location, the bridge to the Island is easily accessible by car via the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway(I-278) and Grand Central Pkwy. Thus, visiting inmates by car likely will not be significantly impacted in most cases by those visits occurring at the new Queens Jail.
The jail is part of a controversial plan to replace the notoriously troubled Rikers Island with borough-based jails in each of the five boroughs. Despite the plan for the jail in Queens being rejected by Queens Community Board 9 on the grounds that the jails should not be located in residential areas, the city still plans to move forward.
The city states that all of the new borough-based jails will serve as “civic assets for all New Yorkers” and “must relate to the city it is in and create a sense of place for the citizens it serves,” according to its website regarding the plan to close Rikers. In the case of the Queens jail, the plan includes constructing a two-floor community space with multiple verdant outdoor terraces attached to the parking garage. Given New York’s bail reform laws passed in 2020, leading to many people awaiting trial for misdemeanor and even some felony offenses will likely not be waiting in jail for their trials even with the recent changes to the law made by NY Gov. Kathy Hochul and most individuals in the borough-based jails will likely be those accused of violent offenses, those facing charges in multiple incidents or serving short sentences and thus residents and area visitors may be skeptical of the immediate surroundings of the jail becoming such a public and even inviting area.
As of now, a lot more New Yorkers live, work, and go to school near correctional facilities than you would imagine. A study done by the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform in May 2019 showed that there are 11 detention facilities in New York City outside of the eight already on Rikers Island, and those facilities have a combined 158,000 people living within a 5-minute walk of the facilities and 430,000 people living within a 10-minute walk of them. The study found not only that property values and crime rates were not adversely impacted by the correctional centers, property values in certain areas, such as Downtown Brooklyn, increased, including a 55% increase in a five-minute walking distance from the Brooklyn Detention Complex(BKDC) since it was reopened in 2012. The BKDC has since been closed in 2020 and will be the site of Brooklyn’s new borough-based jail.
While this was not stated in the studies, many of the facilities are located in growing communities such as the South Bronx, Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn and Sunset Park/Industry City. There are a plethora of examples of major developments near the detention centers such as the Industry City arts hub near the MDC Brooklyn(Brooklyn’s federal prison) and the recently renovated office complex known as the Falchi Building in Long Island City near the state-operated Queensboro Correctional Facility. In the South Bronx, the Horizon Juvenile Center which houses some of the highest risk juvenile delinquents and offenders in the city is located directly across the street from the South Bronx Educational Campus which includes two high schools. A new elementary school, PS. 487X is also being constructed adjacent to the South Bronx Campus and is slated to open for the 2024-25 school year. Thus, while many community members are likely skeptical of the current spatial arrangements near the new Queens jail; there is a chance that people will greatly benefit from the community spaces and perception of the space may change in the future given the outcomes of development around correctional facilities in other boroughs.
As the parking lot portion of the project has been completed and demolition of the former Queens Detention Complex is set for this summer, this project will likely spur many discussions on how jails and the areas around them can be a part of our communities and may impact how development is perceived around correctional facilities.
Transit Central 