By the late 20th century, the original configuration of the station was inadequate. Its only entrance was on the traffic island between Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and 71st and 72nd Streets. Furthermore, the platforms and stairways were unusually narrow; the platforms were wide at their widest point, and the staircases were wide. In the late 20th century, MTA officials announced that they would spend $40 million to widen the platform, but subsequently rejected the renovation as being infeasible. Donald Trump developed his Riverside South complex two blocks to the west in the 1980s and 1990s; some opponents to Trump's development said that it would increase crowding at the 72nd Street station. A design for the station's renovation was completed in 1996 by Dattner Architects and Gruzen Samton. In 1998, New York City Transit's vice president for capital improvements, Mysore Nagaraja, said that a renovation of the 72nd Street station would commence after more important projects were completed. State assemblyman Scott Stringer successfully campaigned to have money allocated to the 72nd Street station's renovation. In February 1999, the MTA Board adopted a resolution allowing the MTA to use a request for proposals process for the project.