Bloomberg and Gural mark Duffy Square construction.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg joined Times Square Alliance Chairman Jeffrey Gural, Theatre Development Fund (TDF) Chairman David D. Holbrook and Coalition for Father Duffy Chairman Bruce Meyerson for a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction on the redesign of Duffy Square and a new TKTS ticket booth.

The total cost of the project is almost $12.7 million including $9.5 million from the City and the City Council, and $3 million in private funds from the Times Square Alliance, TDF and the Coalition for Father Duffy.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by December 2006 in time for the annual New Year's Eve in Times Square festivities.

The ceremony featured a Color Guard from the 69th Regiment, recently returned from active duty in Iraq, and an invocation by Father Joe Kelly of St. Malachy's Parish.

Also in attendance was Law & Order star S. Epatha Merkerson, Mayor's Midtown Citizens Committee Chairman Gerald Schoenfeld and League of American Theatres and Producers President Jed Bernstein. The final design concept is the product of what was New York City's largest architectural competition prior to the competition for the World Trade Center site, drawing 683 proposals from 31 countries. The competition was organized and managed by the Van Alen Institute in 1999 as an official NYC 2000 millennium committee project.

The winning design concept for the new TKTS Booth--which includes a glass stair structure for seating over the ticket-selling operation--was created by Choi Ropiha and developed by Perkins Eastman. It is integrated and enhanced by the William Fellows Architects LLC plaza design that will transform the center of the Times Square district and raise the bar for public space design in New York City.

In keeping with its surroundings, the amphitheatre-style structure will be built entirely from glass and will be architecturally spectacular. The TKTS booth will be a free-standing, custom-fabricated fiberglass shell that sits beneath the steps, and will be visible through the glass side walls of the structure.