NEW YORK: Grand Central Terminal, New York City's most visible transportation hub, has hired Dan Klores Communications as its AOR.

The terminal, which is controlled by New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is hoping to transform its image from a merely utilitarian commuter's hub into a go-to destination for shopping and dining by both locals and tourists alike.

Kaitlin Welch,a DKC account executive, said that the agency won an RFP, issued this past July, to take on the branding and repositioning tasks. Gordon Lavin, who serves as retail manager of Grand Central Terminal through real-estate management firm Jones Lang LaSalle, did the hiring. Lavin did not return a call before press time.

Welch said via e-mail that the agency plans to "implement a multipronged media and strategic partnership program to attract diverse constituencies to the terminal."

In a bit of cobranding, DKC client Alicia Keys will be featured on an upcoming cover of a new publication highlighting the terminal, titled Connections. Welch said Keys will be "discussing her fondest memories" of the terminal in the title, which will be released to coincide with the holiday shopping season.

Sally Fischer PR, a New York based firm that specializes in "lifestyle" clients, was the terminal's previous agency. It had worked on similar positioning tasks since 2002.

In a statement, DKC said that it will promote the terminal not only as a "central location for fine food and shopping, "but also as a site for many types of events.

Grand Central has touted itself as a destination ever since its multimillion-dollar renovation project was completed in 1998. Today it boasts both upscale and casual restaurants, a small mall's worth of retail shops, and even a fine food market.

DKC will have five people working on the Grand Central account, Welch said. Terms were not disclosed.