Zerega Bus Maintenance and Training Facility

Cost: $62.5 million

Development Team

Owner: New York City Transit
Design/Build Team: Granite Halmar
Construction Manager: Christa Construction Co., Victor, N.Y.
Construction Co., Mount Vernon, N.Y., Sowinski Sullivan
Architects, Sparta, N.J., Stone & Webster, Engineers, NYC

New York City Transit's new $62.5 million, 260,000-sq.-ft. Zerega facility was built in less than two years as a design-build by Granite Halmar Construction Co., based in Mount Vernon, N.Y. Most of the new building is used for bus maintenance and repair. It also has a mezzanine with 22,000 sq. ft. of office space and 5,000 sq. ft. of classrooms for the training of drivers and mechanics.

It was the first design-build project NYCT's bus division had ever done.

"We were designing while we were building while we were designing," said Alan Marder, project manager for buses with the NYCT's Department of Capital Programs. "We had to give up some control to the contractor, which was hard for us, but what we gained was speed." The project began in June 1999 and was essentially complete in May 2002.

NYCT decided on a fast-track design-build because of the growth in bus ridership since the Metrocard with its free transfer option began in 1997. "Our ridership is up 50 percent," said Marder. "We no longer had the luxury of waiting three to five years for project delivery."

NYCT was so pleased with the success of the design-build process at Zererga, that it is looking to do the same for its planned new depots at 100 Street in Manhattan and at Grand Avenue is Masbeth, Queens.