Stourbridge Lion
July 20th, 2005, 04:22 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/329448p-281556c.html
New Penn Station no longer dream
BY PAUL D. COLFORD
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, July 19th, 2005
State and city officials yesterday named the developers who will
replace
one of the city's lost jewels - the old Pennsylvania Station - with a
new
gem.
After years of delay, the city, state and two big developers are all
aboard with a design to turn the main post office on Eighth Ave. into a
grand transit hub recalling the elegant Pennsylvania Station that was
razed in 1963.
The $818 million plan will preserve the handsome facade of the James A.
Farley Post Office, erected in 1913, while adapting the building as the
new Daniel Patrick Moynihan Station, to honor the late U.S. senator,
who
pushed hard for the idea.
"This is going to be a magnificent gateway for New York," Gov. Pataki
said
at yesterday's unveiling of the design, which also calls for shops,
restaurants and a boutique hotel.
Pataki noted that more than 500,000 subway, NJTransit, Long Island Rail
Road and Amtrak riders a day now use Penn Station, a bland hub located
across Eighth Ave. He called the current location "horribly
inadequate."
It's "certainly not an appropriate gateway to the greatest city in the
world," he added.
As envisioned by James Carpenter Design Associates, in collaboration
with
Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, the new central train hall will mirror the
old Penn Station through the addition of tall, steel arches on which
will
sit a huge, yet lightweight, skylight.
A second, so-called "grid shell skylight" will be set atop a hall to be
located roughly in the middle of the building, between Eighth and Ninth
Aves., that will serve as a taxi station and baggage dropoff.
The winning plan for the project was submitted by a team of major New
York
developers, The Related Cos. and Vornado Realty Trust, which has
extensive
holdings in the area.
The companies will put up about $300 million of the projected $818
million
cost at different stages before the work is completed in 2010.
The city, state and federal governments and the Port Authority are also
helping to fund the project, whose main transit beneficiary will be
NJTransit trains.
The congestion that commuters now face in reaching the track level in
Penn
Station will be relieved with the addition of staircases and other
access
to 11 platforms that already sit under the Farley building.
The Postal Service will occupy 250,000 square feet.
Up to 1 million square feet of air rights will be applied to the
northeast
corner of Eighth Ave. and 33rd St., where a Duane Reade store now
stands.
A residential tower is expected to rise there, next to Vornado-owned
1Penn
Plaza.
"The completion of the Moynihan Station gives a second chance to
recapture
the extraordinary station that once was Penn Station," said Charles
Gargano, chairman of the state Economic Development Corp.
Gargano's agency spearheaded the plan and arranged for the planned
purchase of the Farley building from the Postal Service for $230
million.
Yesterday's unveiling was the latest chapter in a long-running effort
to
give the Farley building new life as a transit hub.
Moynihan's dream project seemed far along six years ago, when
then-President Bill Clinton came to New York to join Pataki and the
senator in introducing plans for "the new Penn Station" in the Farley
building.
Amtrak, the owner of Penn Station, was then onboard, but has since
pulled
back its planned financial contribution.
Mayor Bloomberg said the project will create more than 10,000
construction
jobs, more than 3,300 permanent jobs and more than $50 million a year
intax revenue, and provide an anchor destination amid plans for new
West
Side development.
New Penn Station no longer dream
BY PAUL D. COLFORD
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, July 19th, 2005
State and city officials yesterday named the developers who will
replace
one of the city's lost jewels - the old Pennsylvania Station - with a
new
gem.
After years of delay, the city, state and two big developers are all
aboard with a design to turn the main post office on Eighth Ave. into a
grand transit hub recalling the elegant Pennsylvania Station that was
razed in 1963.
The $818 million plan will preserve the handsome facade of the James A.
Farley Post Office, erected in 1913, while adapting the building as the
new Daniel Patrick Moynihan Station, to honor the late U.S. senator,
who
pushed hard for the idea.
"This is going to be a magnificent gateway for New York," Gov. Pataki
said
at yesterday's unveiling of the design, which also calls for shops,
restaurants and a boutique hotel.
Pataki noted that more than 500,000 subway, NJTransit, Long Island Rail
Road and Amtrak riders a day now use Penn Station, a bland hub located
across Eighth Ave. He called the current location "horribly
inadequate."
It's "certainly not an appropriate gateway to the greatest city in the
world," he added.
As envisioned by James Carpenter Design Associates, in collaboration
with
Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, the new central train hall will mirror the
old Penn Station through the addition of tall, steel arches on which
will
sit a huge, yet lightweight, skylight.
A second, so-called "grid shell skylight" will be set atop a hall to be
located roughly in the middle of the building, between Eighth and Ninth
Aves., that will serve as a taxi station and baggage dropoff.
The winning plan for the project was submitted by a team of major New
York
developers, The Related Cos. and Vornado Realty Trust, which has
extensive
holdings in the area.
The companies will put up about $300 million of the projected $818
million
cost at different stages before the work is completed in 2010.
The city, state and federal governments and the Port Authority are also
helping to fund the project, whose main transit beneficiary will be
NJTransit trains.
The congestion that commuters now face in reaching the track level in
Penn
Station will be relieved with the addition of staircases and other
access
to 11 platforms that already sit under the Farley building.
The Postal Service will occupy 250,000 square feet.
Up to 1 million square feet of air rights will be applied to the
northeast
corner of Eighth Ave. and 33rd St., where a Duane Reade store now
stands.
A residential tower is expected to rise there, next to Vornado-owned
1Penn
Plaza.
"The completion of the Moynihan Station gives a second chance to
recapture
the extraordinary station that once was Penn Station," said Charles
Gargano, chairman of the state Economic Development Corp.
Gargano's agency spearheaded the plan and arranged for the planned
purchase of the Farley building from the Postal Service for $230
million.
Yesterday's unveiling was the latest chapter in a long-running effort
to
give the Farley building new life as a transit hub.
Moynihan's dream project seemed far along six years ago, when
then-President Bill Clinton came to New York to join Pataki and the
senator in introducing plans for "the new Penn Station" in the Farley
building.
Amtrak, the owner of Penn Station, was then onboard, but has since
pulled
back its planned financial contribution.
Mayor Bloomberg said the project will create more than 10,000
construction
jobs, more than 3,300 permanent jobs and more than $50 million a year
intax revenue, and provide an anchor destination amid plans for new
West
Side development.