Grand Avenue Bus Depot and Maintenance Facility

Rank #13
Cost: $150 million

The bus facility rising in Queen for New York City Transit is far more than a big parking space.

The proposed Grand Avenue Bus Depot and Maintenance Facility in Maspeth will cost $217 million, comprises 500,000 sq. ft. and promises state-of-the-art and environmentally sound facilities.

The three-story facility includes fueling, cleaning and storage facilities for 200 buses on the first floor, an advanced 27-bus maintenance facility on the second floor and offices for NYCT's Department of Buses on the third floor.

Add in a parking garage for employees on the roof, and the project will result in a full-service facility upon its completion in 2006.

Funded by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration and NYCT, the project is under way and led by the joint construction management team of Tishman Construction Corp. and the Washington Group.

The facility's primary functions are sorely needed to support the continent's largest bus fleet. The expected new capacities include the ability to maneuver the city's 60-ft. articulated buses. The maintenance facilities will be able to repair and maintain the newer fleet of electric and compressed natural gas buses and expand the capabilities of the current central maintenance facility for Brooklyn and Queens.

The facility will also contain fueling and defueling stations.

Building on the former site of a car rental business, the project team has had to contend with difficult logistics, including limited construction space. To save on land, the architects chose the four-story design. The cherry on top is the employee parking, which along with proximity to public transportation, will reduce the impact that the new facility has on the community.

The design-build plan by Granite Halmar also calls for the first "green" bus facility of its kind, with state-of-the-art systems, designs and materials. The innovative features include photovoltaic cells on the roof level that will produce some of the building's energy as well as rainwater collection units that will supply the cooling and bus-washing systems.

The facility even has "environmentally friendly" paint booths - self-contained units that avoid the spread of contaminants.

The building's environmentally sound features are not just extras. They respond to set guidelines established by a gubernatorial executive order for state transportation facilities to be energy efficient and environmentally aware - meaning the project teams must meet exacting regulatory specifications.

The end result will be a technologically advanced "green" structure that the NYCT plans to use as a model for future depot and garage projects.

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