May 2, 2006 10:02 am US/Eastern
Broadway Opening For TKTS Revival At Duffy Square
Crossroads Of The World
by Magee Hickey
TIMES SQUARE (CBS) ―
There are big changes coming to the Crossroads of the World. Groundbreaking gets under way today on a multi-million dollar facelift for Duffy Square.
It would be a kind of public amphitheater to the world of Times Square. According to a rendering in The New York Times this morning, there'll be a new look to the TKTS booth in Times Square. TKTS will actually reside under a ruby-red spectators' bleachers that will seat 1,000 people who just want to sit and gaze out at the Crossroads of the World.
"Finally, there'll be a place where you can sit down and look," said Tim Tompkins, the president of the Times Square Alliance.
Mayor Bloomberg is expected to preside today at a groundbreaking for the $12.5 million project to improve Father Duffy Square. It will include a glass staircase to nowhere -- 27 steps high, where people can just hang out -- and removing the fence around the statue of Father Duffy for 37 percent more space.
Planned renovations to the concrete traffic island on the northern side of Times Square also include plans to expand the island and repave it with illuminated panels set into granite.
"I think it's going to be New York's Spanish Steps," said Brendan Sexton, the former president of what is now the Times Square Alliance and a member of the jury that chose the new design in 1999.
The city and theater district groups are sponsoring the makeover. The $12.5 million cost will be shared as follows: $5.5 million form the mayor's office, $4 million from the City Council, $1.5 million from the theatre alliance, and half a million from a coalition of theatre groups.
The expanded TKTS Ticket Booth will replace the trailers that have housed the discount theater ticket outlet since 1973.
Until construction is completed on the new TKTS booth, a temporary booth will be open at the Marriott Marquis Hotel across the street.
The project is expected to be completed before revelers return to Time Square to ring in 2007.
The groundbreaking today also marks the 135th birthday of Father Francis Duffy, chaplain during World War I of the famous Fighting 69th Regiment from New York.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
