Six to eight months.
That how long MTA NYC Transit says the entrance to the subway stop at Smith Street and 2nd Place will be closed starting July 28.
During that time riders looking to hop the F or G train will have to go across the street or travel a few blocks down to access the Carroll Street station.
MTA NYC Transit officials have installed two additional high-wheel entrances/exits at the 2nd Street entrance and say a station agent will be on duty at all times to handle the greater influx of riders expected there.
The Carroll Street station itself will remain in regular operation, according to MTA NYC Transit, but the closure of the entrance and 2nd Place and Smith Street will be in effect around the clock, seven days a week while work progresses developer Billy Stein’s “Oliver House” condominium project immediately adjacent to the subway entrance at 360 Smith Street.
MTA NYC Transit’s Anthony Inglesby told Community Board 6 that a city engineer will continuously monitor construction at the 360 Smith Street site to “ensure the structural integrity of the station and the safety of our customers.”
Local residents are very concerned about safety as well as protecting existing trees in the pedestrian plaza and maintaining bike racks in the area.
Many also wonder what will happen to the newsstand that has up until now operated outside the subway entrance at 2nd Place and Smith Street.
A newsstand worker was observed packing up and clearing out at about 10:30 p.m. on July 15.
The developer says that the next phase of construction will begin right away.
