History 370 Jay Street

the money train door in jay street ind station, leading 370 jay street s money sorting room.

in 1938, board of transportation began plans relocate central headquarters. architectural firm eggers & higgins drafted original plans new board of transportation headquarters in 1939, projected cost $3.6 million. site @ jay , willoughby streets condemned in 1928 construction of jay street–borough hall station of independent subway system (ind), parking lot created on site. sold realty company involved in building s construction new york city board of estimate @ cost of $365,000. site selected in anticipation of unification of transit system, occur 1 year later. contract building awarded george a. fuller company. construction of building did not commence, however, due onset of world war ii.

new plans drafted william haugaard in 1948. original design altered, including changes outer facade , addition of arcades @ both ends of structure. building being constructed part of greater brooklyn civic center, several other government buildings being erected in surrounding area. ground broke on site on october 8, 1948. building erected @ time when many other bot transit facilities being built. headquarters opened on april 1, 1951, on 2 years after death of haugaard. cost $10 million construct. bot proceeded vacate former headquarters, 1 @ hudson street @ entrance holland tunnel in hudson square, manhattan, , other in former paramount theatre in downtown brooklyn. on may 8, 1952, subway entrances between building s south arcade , jay street ind station, including 4 escalators, completed.

in column new yorker published april 25, 1953, architectural critic lewis mumford praised building s design, calling model of efficient office building. not cathedral of commerce, not temple of advertising, not palace of municipal power: group of offices arranged efficient dispatch of administration.

use after dissolution of bot

following dissolution of bot in june 1953, building taken on bot s successors new york city transit authority, used building headquarters. transit authority became part of mta in 1968, mta using building center of operations. office space rented out other organizations including new york city police department. in 1990, transit authority moved primary headquarters out of 370 jay street, current location @ 130 livingston street. other mta operations moved 2 broadway (now headquarters of mta bridges , tunnels) in manhattan in 1998. in january 2006, money train operations ended, after mta largely vacated site. following mta s exit, building remained largely vacant , fell disrepair, surrounded scaffolding. has been criticized dilapidated state, , simple , uniform design in contrast surrounding buildings. critics of building included brooklyn borough president marty markowitz.

on april 23, 2012, mta agreed turn building on new york university (nyu), university planning convert site use part of brooklyn campus. building house center urban science , progress. original futuristic design plan renovation submitted applied sciences competition held mayor michael bloomberg , new york city economic development corporation, same competition led establishment of cornell tech campus on roosevelt island. original nyu design 370 jay street included high-tech, high-performance outer facade of glass , steel using recycled materials improve temperature insulation, along other energy efficient features. nyu awarded 99-year lease of building. in 2014, however, nyu altered plans lower costs. new redesign created mitchell−giurgola architects. original limestone facade, has darkened due age , lack of maintenance, restored original white shade. overhaul still utilize green features, including energy-efficient windows, wind turbine, , green roof. renovations began in march 2015.

on october 1, 2014, mta officials unearthed time capsule @ northeast corner of building. capsule, metal chest placed in small crypt beneath paving stone, filled microfilm records of building s construction, newspaper article, , nickel (representing transit fare @ time building built) in october 1949, , buried in 1950. contents found damaged water when removed. part of nyu renovation, mta relocated world war ii memorial 130 livingston street in june 2015, , held re-dedication ceremony in august 2015.