Renderings Revealed For $6B Penn Station Plan Going Head-To-Head With The MTA
The Italian developer vying to be the chosen one for the reimagining of New York's Penn Station has released the first images of its proposed design and outlined its price tag.
ASTM North America said Wednesday the full cost of the project will be $6B and that the plan would involve buying Madison Square Garden’s theater, knocking it down and replacing it with a new train hall. The proposal's cost would be $1B cheaper than the plan touted by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority earlier this week.
ASTM Senior Vice President Peter Cipriano said the developer has reached an “understanding” with MSG on the acquisition price for the theater that is roughly $500M, Crain’s New York Business reports. While the firm has had productive talks with Amtrak and met with Hochul's office, Cipriano said the MTA, which is taking the lead on the redesign, has refused to look at the plans.
Hochul's announcement Monday was the official "decoupling" of the plan to fund the redevelopment of the U.S.' busiest train station with the redevelopment of its surrounding area. Real estate firm Vornado had planned to build some 18M SF of development around the station, from which the state intended to use tax revenue to partially fund the station.
But with the tough economic climate, Vornado has pumped the brakes on construction planning, leaving the state to go it alone in redeveloping the station.
ASTM said its plan will deliver a new station faster and cheaper than other options and with less burden on the taxpayer. Federal loans and grants, as well as the committed funds for Penn Station, would help meet the $6B cost, according to a release.
ASTM North America would put in $1B and complete work within six years of government approval, it said. The design it released Wednesday was created by the Practice for Architecture and Urbanism and HOK.
“In collaboration with HOK and PAU, ASTM has developed a thoughtful, transformational plan that will fulfill all of Gov. Hochul’s hopes for a new Penn Station,” Cipriano said in a statement. “Our vision will once again return Penn Station to be an iconic transit hub worthy of New York City with a grand entrance on Eighth Avenue, more light, more space, more accessibility and more efficiency.”
Madison Square Garden would stay in its place, and two main train halls would be created that would be accessible from Eighth Avenue.
A new entrance with 55-foot ceilings, a midblock hall with 105-foot ceilings, along with windows and skylights, would be built to bring in more light to the station. MSG would be “financially responsible” for wrapping the arena in a stone facade, according to the release, and truck loading for MSG will be moved off the street and put within the building.
The plan is to improve the Seventh Avenue entrances on West 31st and 32nd streets, with renovations aimed at improving access to the 21 platforms. ASTM would run the station for 50 years under the plan, per The New York Times, with Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and MTA paying around $250M annually to use it. Cost overrun would be worn by the company, according to the Times.
Previous plans had MSG in a glass box, but that idea has been jettisoned for a limestone or granite cladding in order to match the Farley Building across the road. The cost saving comes from keeping a bridge in place between Seventh and Eighth avenues — its removal would add $1B to the budget, the Times reported.
The ASTM plan has garnered support from officials like Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, but MTA’s Lieber has said the design is not a good use of money.
“That's not a good investment of MTA dollars, from my standpoint, and I feel strongly about it,” Lieber said at the MTA’s monthly board meeting in April, Crain’s New York Business reported at the time. “It makes no sense to invest a couple billion dollars, most of which will go to Madison Square Garden because the premise is to buy out the Hulu theater, take it all apart [and put it back together] for Madison Square Garden.”
