Food, retail options sparse at MTA’s new LIRR Grand Central Madison terminal

Téa Kvetenadze, Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News
·3 min read
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As the holiday shopping season kicks into gear, retail in the transit system is slowly regaining ground. But storefronts in the MTA’s newest property — the LIRR terminal at Grand Central Madison — remain empty.

Along the concourse of Grand Central Madison 140 feet below Grand Central, 25,000 square feet of space — 32 storefronts, papered over with photos of generic retail scenes — still sits vacant. Presently, the long, brightly lit concourse corridor is home to only seven kiosks, most selling food or coffee. The MTA expects to open three more kiosks in the near future.

“I’m not asking for anything crazy,” Trisha Thompson, 26, a phlebotomist headed to a train, told the Daily News during a recent rush hour. “At least a hot meal.”

The long-awaited terminal, which opened in January and began full service to Long Island a month later, still offers riders little in the way of retail or refreshment.

“As a commuter you don’t really need that much,” agreed Nicole Mullen, 23, a Long Island native living on the Lower East Side.

Mullen said she’d be happy with “the basics” — a Hudson News or a Starbucks.

“There really isn’t that much of an option, especially compared to Penn Station,” she added. “Especially now with Moynihan [Train Hall], there’s so much retail and so many options,” she said, referencing the west-side LIRR and Amtrak terminal.

Faith Yusko, a 28-year-old teacher who lives in Forest Hills, was sitting on the floor on a recent afternoon, waiting for her train. While there is a lounge for travelers, the span of the concourse does not have any seating.

Yusko said having sit-down spots and eateries where people could gather would be ideal.

“It’s sad to see such a beautiful space that has no industry,” she said, adding that she hopes they make it “a central hub like it is upstairs. There’s beauty in the old and the new.”

MTA brass has repeatedly said they want to find a “master tenant” for the space — one firm to sublet and manage the entire space. The MTA has similar arrangements throughout the system. The retail in Manhattan’s Fulton St. subway station, for example, is sublet through Australian shopping mall giant Westfield.

An MTA spokesperson told the news this week that the transit agency hopes to put out a formal “request for proposals” from potential master tenants in the first quarter of 2024.

While retail options at Grand Central Madison remain sparse, retail elsewhere in the system is starting to regain ground. Earlier this month, the MTA opened Grand Central Terminal’s holiday market, returning for its second year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transit officials told the Daily News that 115 businesses applied for one of just 36 booths at the seasonal fair in the terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall, a sign that many holiday shoppers consider the E. 42nd St. terminal a destination.

The terminal as a whole now has 72 regular retail tenants, up two from this spring, with five more businesses currently under construction, the MTA said. Grand Central can hold 92 retail tenants total.

In general, retail activity is slowly increasing throughout the system.

Since The News last reported on retail vacancies in April, seven more shops are open in the subway system, for a total of 57. LIRR has 30 retail tenants, up from 24 in the spring.

Metro-North has lost retail businesses, down to 22 from 27 in the spring.

The slow upward trajectory mimics the city at large. Manhattan’s retail market is “in a healthy place,” according to a July report by the Real Estate Board of New York, which found that “demand is steady and quality spaces are getting multiple offers.”