The city approved plans to convert the defunct newsstand in front of City Hall on Broadway and Murray into the first “Deliverista Hub” — a public, enclosed space that will incorporate e-bike battery charging, cellphone charging, bike repair and a rest station for delivery workers. This one, part of the city’s pilot program, will open this winter.

When it came before them this spring, Community Board 1 did not approve the plans for this location (which now has what looks like a historic building but is really a dupe built in the 1980s) but the city is moving forward regardless. (I was surprised to see that the sidewalk there is in a historic district — the African Burial Ground and The Commons Historic District from 1993 that goes around City Hall up to Duane Street.) The city’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee awarded the license this month to the Brooklyn-based Worker’s Justice Project; the site is “owned” by the Parks Department.

So this is how it will work:

• The hub will have two full-time workers to staff the hub five days a week (exact hours are not yet set) and supervise the battery charging cabinets and provide education for delivery workers.
• Two to three workers at a time will be able to use each of three “modules” — rest/services, charging and bike repair. Most delivery workers own more than one battery, so while one is charging at one of the 48 ports at the hub, they can still be working. There will be an app that will notify them when their battery is fully charged.
• The charging cabinet will contain technology to detect each battery’s condition and whether it is UL certified (as required by NYC law) so that they can connect battery owners with battery-exchange programs as appropriate.
• The new hub will be 3 feet wider (unfortunate) and 5 feet longer than the current newsstand; it is being designed by the Brooklyn-based designers Fantástica. (I hope they will make a greater effort with the street side of the building, both for bikers in the bike lane and for the views from across the street. Right now just looks like a solid wall.)

The Department of Transportation will be adding bike racks around the hub. Staff will direct deliveristas to use bike racks and avoid congregating on the sidewalk. Members of the general public can also use the facility to charge batteries and phones.

The city has 65,000 delivery workers, and about 80 percent of them use e-bikes and motorbikes. They are also outside all day long, so part of the goal here is to have a refuge from bad weather.

Funding for the pilot program came partially from a $1 million federal grant secured by Senator Chuck Schumer. Another one is being launched on the Upper Westside on 72nd Street.