Yesterday afternoon Governor Kathy Hochul revealed numerous new renderings of what the outdated 53-year-old Penn Station and the surrounding Midtown, Manhattan district could soon become. Despite being slightly downsized by 7 percent from former Governor Cuomo’s ten-building master plan, the new proposal still encompasses an incredible 18.3 million square feet of construction and redevelopment. Vornado Realty Trust is the developer of the master plan, which is expected to take four to five years to complete and cost between $6-7 billion.
“I’m reimagining the New York City commuter experience,” Governor Hochul said. “New Yorkers do not deserve what they have been subjected to for decades at Penn Station. The era of neglecting our Penn Station commuters and the neighboring community is over. New York leaders are expected to offer visionary ideas and take bold actions, and that’s exactly what my proposed transformation of Penn Station accomplishes. This plan puts New Yorkers first, delivering the rider-focused transit experience and great neighborhood they deserve. Investing in Penn Station means investing in New York’s future as we recover from COVID and build a more sustainable, livable city.”
The rendering below shows an aerial perspective of Midtown, Manhattan and the cluster of skyscrapers and supertalls around the train hub. Around three-quarters of the new floor space would be for office use. The towers immediately surrounding Penn Station have yet to be fully finalized. The biggest of them previously seen in updated renderings is Foster + Partners‘ 1,270-foot high ‘PENN15‘ supertall, which would be among the tallest structures in New York City. Though preliminary in nature, this rendering nonetheless gives a plausible projection of the future Midtown skyline along this busy and vital stretch of 34th Street. Vornado currently owns a total of four sites in the development, and part of a fifth.
The future Midtown skyline. Rendering by FXCollaborative/VUW
Here we see West 31st Street with a more pedestrian-friendly and landscaped environment with wider walking spaces and a more open appeal.
West 31st Street. Rendering by FXCollaborative/Bezier/VUW
The dusk rendering below is looking along West 33rd Street at the northern end of a grand, 450-foot-long, steel-framed skylight with numerous angled walls and sloped edges that would stretch southward toward West 31st Street.
West 33rd Street in the winter. Rendering by FXCollaborative/Bezier/VUW
Aerial view of the skylight and loading entrance. Rendering by FXCollaborative/Bezier/VUW
The skylit interior, a hallmark of the original Penn Station, would create a more pleasing interior and vastly improve upon the current facility’s crowded corridors, low-hanging ceilings, and disorienting pathways.
The lower level under the skylight. Rendering by FXCollaborative/Bezier/VUW
The facility would feature a single-level concourse with double-height ceilings and over twice the floor space, from 123,000 to around 250,000 square feet. Clearer sight lines and navigation, 18 new escalators, and 11 extra elevators are also part of the program. Portions of the upper levels would be removed to make way for the taller ceiling heights.
The expanded concourse section. Rendering by FXCollaborative/Bezier/VUW
The new expanded concourse. Rendering by FXCollaborative/Bezier/VUW
A car-free corridor of trees and garden beds is planned to span 34th Street from Herald Square to Ninth Avenue. Several more public spaces, totaling around eight acres, are planned to be built and would include a 30,000-square foot plaza. Forty percent of every building frontage is slated for “active use,” such as retail and community facilities. This portion of the master plan will also establish a Public Realm Task Force, comprised of community leaders and stakeholders, to develop public realm improvements funded by a Public Realm Fund and initial revenue from the redevelopment. The community spaces will focus on the homeless population, while new underground truck-loading docks beneath Madison Square Garden are planned to remove such vehicles from the streetscape.
Aerial view of West 33rd Street. Rendering by FXCollaborative/VUW
An open plaza. Rendering by FXCollaborative/Bezier/VUWHocul’s proposal also allows up to 1,800 residential units, of which 540 would be permanently affordable. One of the new buildings is to be mandated as residential and include 162 permanently affordable units. Further into the plan are new and expanded underground corridors leading to the 34th Street-Herald Square station, which services the B, D, F, M, N, Q , R, W, and PATH trains; eight more entrances to Penn Station, increasing the total count to 20; more subway entrances and exits directly to and from the new buildings; protected bike lanes and more bicycle parking stations along with a reduction in vehicular parking spaces; and the designation of West 31st, 32nd, and 33rd Streets as shared streets.
The New York Governor briefly indicated a possible cost-sharing scenario, emulating that of the tunnels for the Hudson Tunnel projects, in which New Jersey and New York each contribute 25 percent of the total cost, with the remaining 50 funded by the federal government. Further specific details and evaluations were not fully disclosed at the time of yesterday’s public announcement.
A targeted start and completion date for Hochul’s vision for Penn Station and its vicinity have yet to be finalized. She also stated that the complex should be named after a New Yorker, as opposed to a “neighboring state.”
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If you guys see “bruh” today make sure you wish him a happy Birthday.
If you forget, no worries, you’ll get another chance tomorrow.
Well executed
Thank you so much Mr.Galikanokus!!
I also want to make clear that I and my disabled kids need a apartment still.
Your demand should sound a smidge more entitled for maximum effect.
Instead of getting concerned about the station being named after a neighboring state she might address the issue that PENN15 appears to be named after part of the male anatomy.
Leave the name. Everyone knows it as Penn Station. No one will call it anything else and a change will just cost more $ and lead to confusion. Its historical. So what if its named after a defunct railroad – technically so is GCT. What you going to name it DiMaggio station or something? Give me a break. A solution in search of a problem.
Even though I am retired and no longer live in the City, I visit frequently. I still call the Avenue of the Americas (named in the ’40s) 6th Avenue. I still call the subways and lines by their own names; IRT (e.g., Flushing line, not #7), BMT (West End, SeaBeach, Brighton, etc.) and IND. RCA Building (not GE, or whatever it is now). Pan Am Bldg. (not MetLife), Triboro Bridge (not RFK), Tappan Zee (not Mario Cuomo). The only public structure that I call by its new name is the Jackie Robinson Parkway (Interboro Pkwy)- I was nine years old when the Dodgers left at the end of the ’57 season.
Good times.
Indeed. Also ive never said RFK bridge though I don’t disagree RFK deserved to be honored. Also I don’t think many folks are calling the new Tappan Zee the Poppy Cuomo bridge… Lol.
LOL… First thing I thought when reading that last statement.
Who is paying for this? I hope the city and state aren’t. Why should Upstaters pay for this? Hopefully the builders are paying for all of it.
Upstaters? Is that how you think state taxes work? How about city residents just dont fund an upstate road project then. I mean hows that going to benefit them right?
New York City does not fund any 11 billon dollar project Upstate that I know of, do you?
Call me when your upsate hinterlands are the economic generator of New York City. You see theres a difference right?
So if NYC generates so much money, why do they always need Upstate or the State funds to bail them out and build everything?
Your comment makes even less sense upon closer examination.
I will believe it when I see it done. Not holding my breath.
A new president was elected 12 months ago already, and still not $1 has gone to any infrastructure project in this country.
Meanwhile in China…
Moderate Democrats and ALL Republicans are blocking it.
Go live in China.
Its being blocked for a very good reason: Much of it isn’t infrastructure as a normal person would define it. Instead, its a disguised social agenda.
As opposed to a blatant social agenda like you’d get from the shameless Republicans?
Just to nitpick but hes only been actual president for 10 months. Plus a moderate corporate Dem bought off by the fossil fuel industry and a cuckoo bird Dem from AZ plus the majority of the insurrection party have prevented passage.
Big changes for New Yorker, and the complex should be named after a New Yorker. From Hochul’s vision for Penn Station: Thanks to Michael Young.
Everything is going to be built west of the Empire State Building..the east side here seems neglected.
The biggest eyesore remains. MSG. In order to build a replacement for what was lost the MSG gasometer should go as well to another location. Then a monumental Penn Station replacement can be constructed to serve as a gateway to New York in a grand manner.
Yes Mark you are correct noting matter with MSG around MSG need to be relocated.
Unless I missed it. No mention of moving the antiquated MSG from the site?
The MSG owners also own the land of Penn Station, I beleive.
Eminant domain for the public good could get rid of MSG. Doesn’t the state and Amtrak own the property already?
Better but still lipstick on a pig and a complete lack of vision for remaking midtown to be a more equitable, resilient, 24/7 community.
We don’t need this much new office space, we just don’t. We learned from covid that mixed use communities with a large residential base make for far more resilient communities.
Instead this development should have a minimum 5k apartments with 50% or more affordable.
We must stop subsidizing transient populations, and instead invest in sustainable ones. These gleaming towers will just be another stop of big corp’s musical neighborhood chairs where as long as the tax breaks keep going, the neighborhood jumping will continue.
I actually think I agree with this.
I’m honored.
no one here is talking about the huge profit Steve Roth of Vornado will make
Hundreds of millions of dollars because NYS will use eminent domain to destroy numerous blocks and a 150 year old Catholic Church to build glass box towers for office space no one needs. Don’t they realize everyone works remote now ?
How dumb could everyone be. Every Governor wants an eyesore big building project on their resume for their legacies.
Everyone does NOT work remote now. Far from it.
Oh everyone works from home now. Thanks for that. Case closed then.
I’m homeless and have kids, We are all disabled. I need apartment for rent. Today its my real birthday.
Playing it just right and milking it too long is such a thin line.
The first photo with the caption “Penn Station (center)” made me search and search for Penn Station. Does anyone else see it? I don’t.
So true. We deserve a visible Penn Station. It should also be called Penn Station whether the governor know why or not. Any dedication name is just stupid. We already did that with Moynihan. No one will call it that and the name will be painfully long like the Lautenberg staation everyone just calls Secaucus… Thats how it always works and it drives me crazy how often its done in this country. Notice how the French arent renaming Gare de Nord or the Brits renaming Waterloo or the Germans renaming Berlin Haubtbahnhof or the Italians renaming Roma Termini?
Man, the skyline really won’t be the same after this. And 4-5 years of construction? Yeah right.
Maybe a 1 before those numbers.
I hope I see it in my life time. I was 41 when 9/11 happened. Ground Zero still is not finished. So here’s hoping . . . A new Penn Station is a must, however. Perhaps the station could remain Penn Station, with the Moynihan station remaining so named, but the whole complex could be named after another New Yorker – Maybe given his importance to train travel in NY and in the US, we could call it the Vanderbilt Transportation center or some such thing? People will still keep calling it Penn Station, and the Moynihan name is sticking, so who cares? But it is a suggestion