[NYguy]

You can't make it up.


https://gothamist.com/news/federal-takeo...trojan-horse-for-new-midtown-skyscrapers

Federal takeover of Penn Station could be Trojan horse for new Midtown skyscrapers


By Stephen Nessen
Nov 14, 2025

In a notice to potential builders, the national railroad wrote it’s open to proposals that would extend the redevelopment “outside of the station and/or Amtrak’s property boundaries.”

That leaves open the door for a developer to erect new buildings in the neighborhood to help cover part of the cost to overhaul the beleaguered train hall.

The notice seems to contradict recent comments from U.S. Department of Transportation officials, who promised the Penn Station rebuild would be contained within the existing footprint. For years, Manhattan residents have protested plans to overhaul the entire neighborhood as part of the project.

On a call with investors last week, Vornado CEO Steven Roth said the company’s leases this year have skyrocketed to the highest in a decade and the second highest on record. He reported “the Penn District will be a growth engine for our company for years to come, with rising rents and future development projects.”

Roth also said Vornado planned to work with a builder on a pitch for the Penn Station rebuild.

“We will be involved in the process with one of the bidding groups, primarily with respect to the retail that we dominate in the station and in the surround[ing area],” he said.

“I think people who live in the area, including on the residential and commercial block just south, should still be concerned that we've only moved the possibility of a land seizure by the state to a land seizure by the federal government,” Gelinas wrote in an email. “There is a risk of federal eminent domain to fund some of this — e.g. that Trump sees this through Vornado's eyes as an above-ground urban renewal project and not a modest underground train station project.”

New office space near Penn could also undercut other major construction plans elsewhere in Manhattan, said Steve Cohen, a former Port Authority vice chair who also oversaw the construction of Moynihan Train Hall as head of the state’s Empire State Development nonprofit.

Cohen pointed out the Port Authority is seeking to finance the rebuild of its Midtown Bus Terminal with fees on new skyscrapers in the area. He wasn’t sure there was enough demand for new office space near Penn Station and the bus terminal only seven blocks north.

“Somebody should look at what the impact of that is going to be on the real estate market and also in terms of the impact on infrastructure,” said Cohen. “It becomes a potential for there to be a bit of a mess or something that just doesn't work together as a series of projects.”