system. Starting in the late 1980s or early 1990s, business owners in the adjoining shopping area began advocating for the station to be renamed after the mall. The station and mall underwent reconstruction from 2009 to 2011. This included installation of yellow warning strips on the platform edges and repainting of the columns from red to green. The renovation cost $30 million. As part of the renovation of the station, it was renamed Newkirk Plaza in August 2011. Station layout This open-cut station has four tracks and two island platforms, typical for a New York City Subway express station. Two pairs of I-beam columns run along the lengths of both platforms. Newkirk Plaza mall Directly above the station is the Newkirk Plaza shopping area, which is located on either side of a pedestrian walkway above the station. The mall opened in 1913, shortly after the current station did. The shopping area is of an open-air format and all the stores face a passageway that is owned and maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation; however, the stores are privately owned. Many of the stores there are small family-owned businesses, lending the area a "small-town feel." Since the late 2000s, there have been efforts to create a business improvement district for the shopping area. The Manhattan-bound local track is completely underneath the east side of the mall while the Coney Island-bound one is underneath the west side of the mall except for a section at the north end. The express tracks are in open view except in the center (where the station's only entrance is) and at either ends (where the Newkirk and Foster Avenues overpasses are). Exit The station's only entrance and exit is a station house at the center of the plaza. It has a token booth, turnstile bank, and a staircase leading to a short landing above both platforms that separate into two staircases facing the opposite directions going down to the platforms themselves. The station house was renovated in 1988, which included installation of white tiles and a stained-glass artwork titled Transit Skylight by David Wilson. The station house is located on Newkirk Avenue's south side between East 15th and East 16th Streets. In popular culture This station appeared in the Futurama episode "The Luck of the Fryrish" and was portrayed as being in Fry's old neighborhood of Ditmas Park, considering his old home is