Release #370-00

 

Contact:

Sunny Mindel/Curt Ritter (212) 788-2958

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today announced that the City was awarded a $153 million Federal loan through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA), a loan program administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), to support several redevelopment projects for the Staten Island Ferry. The City's application was one of three selected for funding from an applicant pool of six projects from across the country.

"The Staten Island Ferry & Terminal Project will bring the ferries and the terminals into the 21st century," said Mayor Giuliani. "My Administration continues to identify creative financing opportunities for necessary investments in the City's infrastructure. This project is of both regional and national significance, due to the volume of commuter traffic and the ferry's status as one of the primary tourist attractions in New York City and in all of America."

The total project cost is estimated at $463 million, and will include the purchase of three new Kennedy Class ferryboats to replace the existing 35-year old ferryboats. In addition, the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan, which was damaged by fire in the early 1990s, will be completely replaced. The new Whitehall Ferry Terminal will include expanded retail space and the redesign of Peter Minuit Plaza, and will create a more efficient, safer intermodal transportation point. Also, the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island will be redesigned, offering expanded views of Lower Manhattan, improved traffic flow to the bus lanes and to the surrounding St. George neighborhood, and a minor league baseball ballpark.

Of the total project cost, the City will contribute $371 million, with $218 million financed through its capital budget, and $153 million financed through the TIFIA loan. The balance will come from Federal and State grant funds, and/or other City funds. The TIFIA loan will be made to (TSASC) and is expected to be repaid over approximately 30 years. TSASC will repay the loan with funds from the City's share of the Tobacco Settlement Revenues. The TIFIA loan will reduce the planned borrowing program of TSASC. Total savings to the City and TSASC from the TIFIA loan at today's interest rates would be approximately $26.5 million over the term of the loan.

The Staten Island Ferry has been in continuous operation since 1810, and has been municipally operated by New York City since 1905. The ferries provided almost 20 million passenger trips in 1999, more passenger trips than were provided by La Guardia Airport.

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