NEW YORK — New York City and the state of New York have agreed on a plan to pay for renovation of Penn Station, the nation’s busiest passenger rail facility, and redevelopment of its surrounding neighborhood.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announced the agreement on Monday. As outlined by the website Gothamist, the deal will allow developers to build 10 high-rise buildings — nine office buildings and one residential skyscraper — with fees assessed in place of taxes that will go toward rebuilding of the station and improving amenities in the neighborhood.
“The current Penn Station is unsightly, inefficient, and impossible to navigate, and New York commuters deserve better,” Hochul said in a press release. “This agreement brings us one step closer to a beautiful, modern station worthy of New York with vibrant open space, lively streetscapes, and better, more seamless connections to local transit.”
Said Adams, “A state-of-the-art transportation system is at the heart of our ability to have a prosperous life and a prosperous city, and the key to an equitable recovery. The new vision for Penn Station is to our generation what the Empire State Building was to previous generations: a symbol of our resiliency and a project that will define our city for decades to come.”
The plan has been criticized for a lack of transparency and the potential cost to taxpayers, with a government watchdog group, Reinvent Albany, estimating lead developer Vornado Realty could receive a $1.2 billion tax break. The news website amNY.com reports Reinvent Albany Executive Director John Kaenhy questioned the lack of a signed agreement or specifics such as the amount of tax revenue the city will lose.
“This framework agreement is embarrassing,” Kaehny told amNY. “It answers zero of the important questions of why this project should be funded though [payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs] versus conventional financing.”
Gothamist reports that Adams, at an unrelated event Thursday, said, “We know the devil is still in the details; we’re still mapping it out, but we feel confident that this project is a much-needed improvement in the Penn Station area.”
Under the agreement announced Monday, PILOTs will pay for 100% of improvements to local public infrastructure such as streets and sidewalks, 50% of improvements to transit infrastructure including subway entrances and concourses, and 12.5% of the cost of reconstruction and potential expansion of Penn Station. Remaining funding would come from the federal government, New Jersey, New York State, Amtrak, and other sources.
Then Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled a plan for the construction of skyscrapers to offset rebuilding Penn Station and adding nine new tracks last year [see “New York governor, MTA unveil proposals …,” Trains News Wire, April 22, 2021]; Hochul released her revised version of the plan in November.
Congressman Jerrold Nadler said, “I applaud Governor Hochul for understanding how vital Penn Station and Gateway are to the region, and providing clear direction that the transportation aspects of this project must come first. I look forward to working with the MTA, Amtrak & New Jersey Transit on how to turn this new momentum into a consensus-driven Penn Station design and shovels in the ground.”
This is from the list of comments by elected and appointed officials in the link “her revised version”. But there is very little reference if any to Gateway in any of this. I an article on this I read many months ago but I forget where, Gov. Hochul declared that if there wasn’t funding enough to do Gateway and this then her plan should be given preference. Gov. Hochul seems just another politician who loves the glitzy and the glamorous, they provide ribbon-cutting ceremonies, exposure, and hopefully campaign donations, but cares not for the down and dirty projects that underpin the former. What good will this effort to outdo Moynihan Train Hall if the trains cannot cross the Hudson? And if it’s the potential ridership from the Penn Station Access initiative she’s aiming for, she should be focusing her efforts to replace the aging and structurally deficient Pelham Bay Draw. If that bridge fails, those MNR New Haven Line trains she hopes Penn Station will host, as well as Amtrak from BOS, are not going there either. Fix the foundation Gov. Hochul before you build the house!
I used the old Pennsylvania Station many times over about a 20 year period until it was torn down. It wasn’t getting all the upkeep it should have during its final years but it was definitely an important architectural landmark that should never have been torn down. To all of you who never got a change to use it all I can say is you missed something special in the railroad world of the time.
As a kid in the NY area, I remember the original torn down Penn station. An abomination.
I’m not a New Yorker so even at my advanced age I never saw the real Penn Station, only the subsequent hole in the ground. How long has this been the case? What, sixty years or so? People born after Penn Station was destroyed won’t live long enough for it to be replaced.
I am certain to see it as I plan to live to 108
The artist’s renderings in this article are lipstick on a pig, a scar of the black glass and concrete-laden 1960s. Madison Square Garden and the neighbouring vertical black box office building should be entirely demolished.
There is an established organisation pursuing the reconstruction of Pennsylvania Station in its original Beaux-arts architecture with 21st century adaptation including the much needed additional tracks.
It’s 6:34 AM Central Time, I’m barely awake, and I don’t have a degree in business administration or finance, and I’m dizzy as to what’s being proposed.
Let me just make it simple: no rail infrastructure gets built in this country except through a mind-warping combination of subsidies from federal, state and local government. We can say, let’s build New York Penn Station at whatever cost it takes. Fair enough. I’ve used that station myself, many times, so I know what’s at stake. But let’s not hide the cost behind a smokescreen of Rube Goldberg finance.