MTA names new board members, proposes Grand Central Terminal food hall

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) officials announced Polly Trottenberg, Iris Weinshall and Neal Zuckerman are joining the agency's board.

A New York City transportation commissioner, Trottenberg will assume the seat formerly occupied by former New York City Budget Director Mark Page, while Zuckerman of the Metro-North Railroad Commuter Council will take the non-voting seat formerly occupied by the council's Jim Blair. Weinshall will assume the seat currently occupied by Mark Ledbow.

The three new members were confirmed to their positions late last week after being nominated by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The Senate also re-confirmed two existing board members: Andrew Albert and Ira Greenberg.

Trottenberg was sworn in as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation on Jan. 27; Weinshall currently is vice chancellor for facilities planning, construction and management at The City University of New York; and Zuckerman is a partner and managing director in the New York City office of the Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm.

Meanwhile, MTA's board this week will consider a proposal for a 16,000-square-foot food hall, restaurant and take-out venue in Grand Central Terminal. The entire venue would be operated by Claus Meyer, a world-renowned restaurateur who, with Rene Redzepi as head chef and partner, created Noma in Copenhagen, which was ranked "Best Restaurant in the World" in annual surveys by Restaurant magazine in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014, according to MTA.

The most prominent component of the venture would be a market-style array of casual food pavilions in the western half of Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall, the terminal's majestic former main waiting room, at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. All structures associated with the pavilions would be temporary, movable installations to avoid impacting the nationally landmarked space, MTA officials said.