Second Avenue subway’s newsstands still empty

BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Trains aren’t the only things that the MTA can’t get into its stations on time.

The newsstands in the Second Avenue subway have stood vacant, their shelves empty, since the $4.5 billion line first opened its turnstiles to commuters nearly 15 months ago.

Though the MTA selected a tenant to operate the newsstands last fall, vendors have yet to occupy the retail spaces in the new stations.

“The tenant is working on a new retail concept that requires more planning and redesign than traditional concession stands,” MTA spokesperson Amanda Kwan said in an emailed statement. The MTA declined to elaborate on the nature of the redesign or provide a timeline for the opening of the newsstands.

Our Town first reported on the vacant newsstands in April of last year, when an MTA spokesperson said that the agency would award a contract “soon” and that the newsstands would open “in a few months.”

In response to a follow-up inquiry in December, an MTA spokesperson said a tenant had been selected and the stands would “open in the near future.”

Work on the Second Avenue subway began in 2007, but the MTA did not issue a request for proposals for prospective tenants to operate the line’s newsstands until December 2016, less than two weeks before the subway’s opening.

The newsstands were, by appearances, completed and ready for tenants to move in and begin selling snacks and magazines from day one — the kiosk in the 72nd Street station was even put to use as a bar at a New Year’s Eve party hosted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo celebrating the line’s completion before it opened to the public Jan. 1, 2017.

The MTA’s Real Estate Department, which handles the leasing of agency-owned spaces, presented an agreement with a tenant to the MTA board’s finance committee in October of last year. The tenant, Tobmar International, Inc., entered into a 10-year agreement to operate the newsstands at the 72nd, 86th and 96th Street stations at an initial annual rent of $204,812.94, with a 3 percent annual increase, according to the materials presented to the board.

The lease included a grace period for the tenant to customize the spaces. The rent period begins May 20. Tobmar representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

The RFP initially included a fourth newsstand at the 63rd Street-Lexington Avenue station, which was subsequently repurposed for storage.

The vacant newsstands are a visual representation of potential revenue foregone by the beleaguered transportation agency, which is currently seeking $836 million in emergency funding to implement MTA Chair Joe Lhota’s action plan to improve subway service.