Developers Trading Height for Subway Access

By Wayne Sheppard

Developers looking to go bigger with their projects have a path forward. Always eager for infrastructure upgrades, the City has proven to be amenable to a trade – allowing higher structures in exchange for improving or adding new entrances to adjacent subway stops.

The MTA has a habit of getting involved in projects by forcing developers to either pay for station improvements, or take care of these improvements as part of the job. By addressing and upgrading the aging subway infrastructure, the new projects will provide a greater benefit to the surrounding community.

One example of this cooperation is the new “supertall” tower at Flatbush Avenue Extension and Fleet Street, where the developer has agreed to build another entrance to the Dekalb Avenue subway station. The new entrance, which will have stairs and an elevator, won’t be part of the building or even next to it — it will be across the street from the tower in the Long Island University Plaza. The final location will fall somewhere between Fleet Street and DeKalb Avenue.

The entrance will be the second new entrance to the DeKalb stop in recent years — the developer behind the City Point at Fleet Street opened one conveniently in the side of their shopping center. The entrance will bring new customers to the marketplace, and provide the City with a clean, fresh egress point. That’s a Win-Win all around.