Midtown Subway Stop To Get Elevators In Exchange For Skyscraper

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A developer will get to build a taller skyscraper in exchange for constructing elevators at a Midtown subway station, officials announced Tuesday, making it the first company to take advantage of a newly passed city rule.

Sedesco, a real estate developer based in Turkey, will build two elevators at the F train stop at 57th Street and Sixth Avenue — a station that is currently inaccessible for people with disabilities.

In return, Sedesco will get to add up to 20 percent more square footage to the 1,100-foot-tall skyscraper it plans to build at 41 West 57th St., part of the "Billionaire's Row" of supertall towers.

The deal was made possible by Zoning for Accessibility, a new rule approved by the City Council in October that permits the city to offer square-footage bonuses to developers if the companies pledge to fund accessibility work or other improvements at nearby transit stations.

The policy is part of a broader effort by the city and the MTA to make its subway system more accessible. As it stands, more than 70 percent of subway stations are inaccessible to people with disabilities — a woeful figure that the agency aims to remedy by investing $5 billion of its 2020-2024 capital plan toward renovating dozens of stations.

The new elevators will be built near the southwest corner of 56th Street and Sixth Avenue, consisting of a street-to-mezzanine elevator and another mezzanine-to-platform elevator. The corner is just around the block from the site of Sedesco's planned skyscraper, a striking building that will tower over the adjacent Plaza Hotel.

Tuesday's deal comes in spite of a recommendation by Community Board 5 that the city reject the proposed zoning changes. Members cited the tower's lack of affordable housing and the new shadows it would cast over the neighborhood in their resolution last month.

"Riders with disabilities, parents or caregivers with children in strollers, visitors with luggage and so many others will benefit from these new elevators and suite of station improvements, increasing access to Central Park, Carnegie Hall and this bustling area of Manhattan," MTA Chief Accessibility Officer Quemuel Arroyo said in a statement Tuesday.

It was unclear whether Sedesco plans to finish building the elevators by 2026, when its skyscraper is slated to open, according to AM New York.

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