A look at the Port Authority's $10 billion design for a new bus station

It's taken a full decade to realize the concept, but a $10 billion transformation of New York City's bleak main bus terminal could get under way in the coming months.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the terminal, unveiled an updated design for its replacement on Thursday. Instead of the bleak, brick structure that has darkened two entire blocks of Midtown Manhattan for more than seventy years, there would be a bright, modern public transportation hub topped by two office towers.

“The bus station has become an example of a failed infrastructure facility in urgent need of replacement,” said Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority. “It will be an extraordinary transformation from a dilapidated, outdated facility from the 1950s to a building that is intended to be state-of-the-art.”

Construction is expected to take eight years, he said, meaning the project could be completed in 2032. Planning was delayed at least a year by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Port Authority is seeking financial assistance from the federal and city governments but is committed to getting the plan approved by the Federal Transit Administration, Mr. Cotton said. The public has 45 days to comment on the plan, which the agency released Thursday, and there will be four public hearings on it, he said.

Community leaders in Midtown have already exerted significant influence on the project's design, Mr. Cotton said. They had objected to the condemnation of properties for the terminal expansion and insisted that the project would meet the needs of local residents as well as commuters and travelers, he said.

An earlier design that built towers on Port Authority property near the terminal has been scaled back. The revised plan calls for fewer new buildings, with office towers more than 60 stories tall on Eighth Avenue at the corners of 40th and 42nd streets. Payments from the developers of these buildings would help cover the costs of the project, Mr Cotton said.

“We are moving forward with somewhat reduced ambitions,” Mr. Cotton said, although he added that the Port Authority was confident there would be enough demand for office space in Midtown in the 2030s to fill those towers.

The agency is negotiating with city officials for tax incentives similar to those that helped transform the old post office near Pennsylvania Station into the Moynihan Train Hall, Mr. Cotton said. The agency is also seeking a $1 billion loan from the federal government, he said.

But the Port Authority would have to bear the bulk of the estimated $10 billion cost. So far, the country has set aside $3 billion in its long-term budget for improvement projects.

The project would be built in two four-year phases.

The first would include construction of a separate building west of the terminal that would serve as a storage and staging area for buses, as well as ramps to connect the terminal directly to the Lincoln Tunnel. The second phase would consist of building the new terminal where the old one now stands, without disrupting the flow of buses flowing in and out of the city during rush hour.

“This community will have to endure the vicissitudes of construction for eight years,” Mr. Cotton warned.