Vent structures will range from one to nine stories tall.
Work on first structure, at 96th Street, starts in 2012.
13 homes taken through eminent domain to build them.
MTA says newsstands will be in six of the eight structures.
Phase One of the Second Avenue subway, extending Q train from 57th to 96th Street, is scheduled to be completed in December 2016 and cost $4.45 billion.
Upper East Side residents are excited for the long-awaited Second Avenue subway — but less so for the eight proposed ventilation stations that will accompany it.
The above ground structures will be built along Second Avenue, from 63rd Street to 97th Street.
Residents are furious, saying the ventilation stations will block sunlight, be eyesores and create “dead corners.”
“It is certainly not far-fetched to think that losing sunlight to a new building would compromise property values,” said Upper East Side City Councilman Daniel Garodnick.
In talks with the MTA, UES property owners have suggested the MTA redesign the buildings, so they’re less bulky and fit in more with the surroundings.
Existing subway lines use sidewalk gratings for ventilation but since building codes now prohibit street gratings, the MTA says they must build above ground, at least 10-feet high for fresh air intake.