MTA workers were stringing wires down a manhole on Saturday, but it appears that the 2nd Place subway plaza is almost ready to open.
24-Hour Entrance Globe Pole on 2nd Place.
The MTA took down an antique pedestrian street light on 2nd Place, which was like the ones along Smith Street, to install the familiar green MTA globes that signifies that the stations is open 24 hours a day. We got DOT to install that light during the Smith Street reconstruction in 1994, because the plaza was dark and needed more light. Hopefully the building will have enough exterior lights so it will not be needed.
Another 24-Hour Entrance Globe Pole on Smith Street.
The planters are beautiful.
Hopefully the 3 black locust trees survived the construction.
There were originally 5 locust trees that Buddy Scotto's Carroll Garden Association had planted in the plaza in the 70s. The architect sought permission to remove all of them, but the parks dept. would only allow them to remove the two that were on their private property. The 3 that were in the courtyard, which is public property, were saved from the saw. I guess the architect thought that 2-inch calibur trees in scattered boxes would look more architectural.
It is great that the building worked with NYC DOT before the entrance opened to put in 4 bike racks on Smith Street and another one on 2nd Place.