The Port Authority yesterday unveiled designs for its planned, $152 million overhaul of the aging George Washington Bridge bus station in Washington Heights, including a two-block section along Broadway.
The project will include a full renovation of the depot, which was built in 1963, and a fourfold increase in the amount of retail space.
Under the agreement with retail developer Acadia Realty Trust, the firm will spend $102 million on the renovations, while the PA will chip in $52 million. A lease is expected to be finalized in 2010, when work would begin.
“We’re moving ahead and we don’t anticipate any problems,” said PA spokesman Steve Coleman of the prospects of raising funds for the project, despite the current financial crisis.
The project will create 119,000 square feet of retail space. Current tenants include an OTB parlor, newsstands and assorted shops. Leases for new stores are expected to be signed within a year.
Storefronts on both sides of Broadway, between 178th and 179th Streets, would be expanded.