Transit Briefs: UNESCO Award; Canadian Transit Hub, TOD Projects
New York MTA
Grand Central Madison, the MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) terminal, has received UNESCO’s 2024 Prix Versailles Interior Award for the World’s Most Beautiful Passenger Station category. This global architecture and design award for recently opened or renovated metro stations was announced Dec. 2 at the Prix Versailles World Ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.
According to the MTA, in September, the Prix Versailles Selection Committee, comprising architects, designers, and cultural figures from around the world, chose Grand Central Madison for the World’s Most Beautiful Passenger Stations 2024 List, along with Schafbergbahn Station in St. Wolfgang, Austria; Bell Station in Melbourne, Australia; Beijing Station in Beijing, China Toulouse; Matabiau Station in Toulouse, France; and Chiaia Metro Station in Naples, Italy. From the list, the World Judges Panel awarded three World Titles: Prix Versailles, Interior, and Exterior.
The Prix Versailles is a series of architectural competitions, MTA reported. The award criteria include the innovativeness, creativity, reflection of local heritage, and ecological efficiency of each project.
Originally planned for completion in 2009, Grand Central Madison opened Jan. 25, 2023, becoming the first terminal to connect the LIRR, MTA Metro-North Railroad, and MTA New York City Subway (4, 5, 6, 7 and Shuttle lines) all under one roof, along with access to ten bus routes just a few steps outside. The terminal facility is located 14 stories beneath Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It is slightly northwest of Metro North’s historic Grand Central Terminal. Stretching from 45th to 48th streets, with a mezzanine-level walkway that connects to Grand Central Terminal, the facility includes eight stub-end tracks.
“For more than a century, LIRR riders have had West Side access to Penn Station, as well as service to Atlantic Terminal in downtown Brooklyn, which replaced a much-larger one roughly a half-century ago,” Railway Age Contributing Editor David Peter Alan wrote in a report of the terminal’s opening in 2023. “Giving Long Islanders East Side access is not a new idea; a plan was developed in the 1950s and proposed in 1963. Construction began in 1969 on the 63rd Street Tunnel, a two-over-two tube that was built to house tracks for the subway on the upper level and for the LIRR on the lower. Construction was stalled when the city became caught up in a fiscal crisis in the mid-1970s. The tunnel was eventually completed after decades of delays, and the subway system’s F-Train began running on its upper level in 2001. Now, 22 years later, the lower level finally has LIRR revenue trains running in it.”
Canadian Transit Hub, TOD Projects
Design of the Kitchener Central Transit Hub is slated for completion by the end of this year, with construction beginning in 2025 and wrapping up in 2029, according to local Canadian news reports.
“The region [of Waterloo] has long planned this new transit hub at the corner of King Street West and Victoria Street North,” CBC News said Dec. 3. “It would link walking and cycling trails, GRT [Grand River Transit], ION [light rail transit], Via [Rail Canada intercity passenger rail], and GO Transit [commuter rail]. After receiving $43M from the province [of Ontario] for the project in 2016, work was initially supposed to begin in 2020, it was then pushed to 2021, again to 2023, and now is expected to begin next year. The site will include the main hub building, loops for GRT and GO buses, a pedestrian bridge over King Street, a parking lot, and anticipated developments nearby, according to a new staff report being presented to the Sustainability, Infrastructure, and Development Committee.”
According to CBC News, Metrolinx is currently working on a memorandum of understanding that the region will sign.
“We’re sitting today at 95 per cent design on the region’s portion of the project,” said Doug Spooner, Acting Commissioner of Transportation with the Region of Waterloo, according to CTV News. “We’ll be in the ground in 2025 … [and] aiming at a 2029 opening date.”
Construction began Dec. 2 on a new mixed-use, transit-oriented housing project adjacent to the Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) Wilson Station, according to Greenwin, a privately owned, full-service property management and development firm in Ontario.
The site at 50 Wilson Heights Blvd., a former commuter parking lot, is being developed by Greenwin; private equity real estate investment business KingSett Capital; and builder/developer Tridel. The development will provide a total of 1,484 homes, including 520 affordable rental homes. It will also feature a childcare center, community use space, a public park, a new public road, and retail space.
“The city of Toronto, in partnership with CreateTO [the city of Toronto’s real estate agency], is supporting the delivery of this project through the HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan’s (HousingTO Plan) Housing Now initiative, which makes city-owned lands available to develop affordable rental housing,” Greenwin reported.
“Greenwin is pleased to partner with the city of Toronto, CreateTO, KingSett Capital, and Tridel on a property that combines affordable and market housing, vibrant community spaces, and geothermal-powered design,” Greenwin President and CEO Kevin Green said. “This project reflects our commitment to building inclusive, connected, sustainable neighborhoods that will benefit Torontonians for years to come.”
“KingSett is a business built on relationships,” added Jeff Thomas, Group Head, Development at KingSett Capital. “Nowhere is this more evident than 50 Wilson Heights, where many partners in the private, government and agency sectors will come together at scale to address the challenge of affordable housing in Toronto.”
“Our vision for Toronto is to see families live, work, and thrive without having to worry about securing affordable rents, accessing transit, or finding childcare or green spaces for kids to play,” said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. “This transit-oriented community brings all these elements together, creating a sensible and replicable model for city-building. I am so pleased to see this project take flight and share my gratitude to everyone involved in making this a reality.”
“This milestone reflects the strength of public-private collaboration and partnerships in creating sustainable, livable communities that will benefit residents and our neighborhoods,” commented Vic Gupta, CEO of CreateTO.
