Portuguese immigrant from Minho restores new terminal in downtown, Manhattan
A Portuguese-Ame-rican company specializing in stone masonry services, JMC Stone Corp., owned by José Araújo, is responsible for installing 55,000 pieces of granite and marble at the Grand Central Madison terminal – recently opened in the heart of New York .
To be part of this mega-project, one of the largest in the area of transport in the USA (costing 11.1 million dollars), the firm based in Mineola, Long Island won a subcontracting contract worth around $15 million dollars .
“When they invited me to be part of the project, I was overjoyed, it was an opportunity that I could not refuse”, says the 58-year-old subcontractor, in an exclusive interview with the LUSO-AMERICANO newspaper.
“I couldn’t be happier to know that our name would be related to such an emblematic space of this great city”.
JMC Stone Corp., established in 2006, works with builders and contractors on major public construction and engineering projects in the New York metropolitan area, providing a variety of stones for a wide range of applications. “My major clients are the Metropolitan Transport Authority [known by its acronym in English, MTA] and the Department of Transport [DOT]”, underlined José Araújo.
The new rail terminal, Grand Central Madison, is 43 meters deep and was built on a large area under the historic Grand Central Station, in the “Midtown” area of Manhattan; the station has a total area of 65,000 m2, including 11,000 m2 of space for passengers, in addition to 22 elevators and 47 escalators.
Designed to reduce travel time between the various points on Long Island and Manhattan, and to divert users from the ultra-congested Penn Station, the terminal serves the LIRR fuel line (Long Island Rail Road) and is part of of the East Side Access project, whose construction started in 2018.
Born in Arcos de Valdevez, Minho, José Araújo was 22 years old when he arrived in America eager to conquer his dreams.
“He had serviced in the Portuguese military in and brought a huge will to win, and to succeed”, he notes.
“New York was perfect. Everything about this city excites me – the dynamics, the diversity and the way it welcomes people.”
JMC Stone Corp. was created in 2006, in partnership with his brother Luís Araújo, “who is responsible for our most important projects on the ground. I am the CEO and CFO. My wife Luciane is in charge of administrative management.” Araújo guarantees that “about 60% of its 45 employees are Portuguese.”
However, he also goes to Queensborough Col-lege, where he is studying business management and statistics – “it gave me self-confidence and made me reduce my fear when facing certain professional situations”, explains Araújo, who is used to dealing with projects ranging from 200,000 to several million dollars.
José Aráujo resorted to importing materials from Portugal numerous times – from salted stones to bianco lago, which Grupo Galvão exports, although he did not use this specific project.
