[NYguy]

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-p...ew-penn-station-megaproject-more-housing

With Vornado plan stalled, Penn Station gets a new megaproject pitch





NICK GARBER
March 6, 2025

A group of Midtown politicians is backing a new plan for high-rise housing around Penn Station, urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to finally ditch the stalled megaproject that would rely on office towers built by Vornado Realty Trust.

The proposal by Assemblyman Tony Simone would scrap the existing plan — which would allow for 10 skyscrapers almost entirely limited to commercial use — and replace it with a mixed-use complex consisting of about one-third apartments and two-thirds offices. The proposal has support from Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, City Councilman Erik Bottcher and state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and some support from neighboring landlords because, unlike the existing plan, it would not use eminent domain to seize private property.

It would, however, still rely on a general project plan, a development tool that allows the state to override local zoning laws in order to build.

Simone’s framework, which is not finalized, calls for expanding the general project plan from eight to nine sites but turning the lot of the now-demolished Hotel Pennsylvania into a public park rather than the skyscraper envisioned by Vornado. The new complex would span 13.9 million gross square feet, compared with 18.3 million under the old plan, with room for about 5,000 housing units, compared with 1,800 in the existing plan.

Hochul, who has near-unilateral power to reopen the general project plan at any time, is “open to” the new proposal, Simone said. The revisions may be less palatable to Vornado, which has pursued a neighborhood-reshaping megaproject for years and has insisted its office-oriented initiative remains alive.

Matthew Gorton, a spokesman for Empire State Development — the state entity spearheading the project — said in a statement that “Gov. Hochul remains committed to her vision for a new and improved Penn Station, anchored by hundreds of new homes, seamless access to transit, and major improvements to the surrounding streets and sidewalks.

“The governor will continue to work with all stakeholders to deliver a station worthy of New York while advancing her bold plan for swift action to address the state’s housing shortage,” Gorton added.