Finally -- MTA Eyesore in Downtown Brooklyn To Be Sold or Leased

The MTA said Monday that it finally intends to sell or lease their deteriorating former headquarters building at 370 Jay Street, which has been blighting Downtown Brooklyn for 10 years.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, the MTA also plans to dispose of eight other parcels of real estate. “The move is part of an ongoing effort by the authority to reduce costs and maximize the revenues it receives from real estate holdings,” MTA said. The agency had been throwing away rent on the empty building for years.

The huge 370 Jay Street (also the entrance to the Jay Street-MetroTech station) had been chipping paint and scaring tourists for a decade, to the consternation of Downtown businesses, schools and BP Marty Markowitz.

Last year, in an attempt to appease Brooklyn powers that be, MTA repainted the peeling ceiling (photo above). Also last year, MTA completed the $160 million renovation of one of Brooklyn’s busiest transit hubs under the building. (More on that here.)

The MTA’s 2010–2014 Capital Program included $184 million to rehabilitate 370 Jay St., which they said would house a new Business Service Center (BSC). Monday, however, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan told the Eagle that those plans are no longer on the table.

In March, The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership told the Eagle they wanted the city to consider the building as a possible site for the future Applied Sciences and Engineering Research Center.
 
MTA Puts 370 Jay Street Up for Sale -- At Last  Brooklyn Eagle 

Photo by MK Metz

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