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Moynihan Station

The new Penn Station, also called Moynihan Station, is a proposed renovation and overhaul of the current Farley Post Office at 8th Avenue and 33rd Street. The original proposal, made in 1993, called for the façade of the post office to be maintained, while the internal structure would be completely redesigned. That proposal was rejected in 2006 by the Public Authorities Control Board, at the urging of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. However, under the Spitzer administration, the current chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), Patrick Foye, revived the discussions and formed “Plan B”.

This new plan, a joint effort between the city and State, Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as well as developers Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust, calls for a much larger project than originally envisioned. The current proposal calls for Madison Square Garden to be moved to the west end of Farley; the current Pennsylvania Station to be renovated and opened to light; and the superblock between Seventh and Eighth avenues and 31st and 33rd streets, to be turned into two to four office towers containing about five million square feet of office space. With their purchase of the adjacent Hotel Pennsylvania and Manhattan Mall, Vornado hopes to transform this large swath of midtown with thousands of square feet of class A office space.

Supporters of this new project include a wide range of interest groups. Many groups see the plan as a type of redemption for allowing the demolition of the old, and architecturally distinguished, Penn Station. Transportation groups are supportive of it because the plan will create a more efficient Penn Station with more capacity for Amtrak, NJ Transit, and the LIRR. Developers are supportive of the plan because they see the project as the key to opening the far west side of Manhattan to commercial development. In addition, the project is viewed as an important link between the potential developments of the Hudson Yards to the rest of Manhattan’s business district.

On February 2, 2007, ESDC signed a memorandum of understanding that extended the state’s option to purchase the Farley Building from the U.S. Postal Service. On March 30, 2007 the purchase was approved with the Port Authority paying $140 million of the $230 million purchase price. The remainder of the cost will come from private developers (The Related Cos. and Vornado) and a loan. Ultimately, the Public Authorities Control Board must still approve plans to turn the post office into Moynihan Station.

The ESDC formally initiated the public review process on October 23, 2007 when it released a draft scope of work for the project. Since that time questions have been raised about the financing for the plan. Originally, the cost of renovating the current Penn Station, located under the current Garden, was estimated to cost about $1 billion. The figure has now ballooned to $2.2 billion with another $1 billion required to expand the station into the Farley building. While $1.15 billion of that funding has been committed by the city, State, and private developers, there is still a major funding shortfall. Project supporters hope that the federal government will provide funding and that the private developers will commit additional funding, though it is not clear whether either will happen. The entire $14 billion project is also facing a weakening credit market and rising construction costs, which may make it difficult to finance such a large project. While Gov. Spitzer has remained publicly supportive of the project, Garden officials have not. In fact, it is believed that Garden officials are working on plans to renovate the current Garden because the plans for Moynihan station have dragged on so long. Without the Garden’s support, the viability of the entire project will be threatened.