[NYguy]

Meanwhile, Moynihan slowly begins to stir...

http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/moynihan-bags-83-m-stimulus-change%E2%80%94so-what

Moynihan Bags $83 M. in Stimulus Change—So What?



By Eliot Brown
February 16, 2010

With a push by the Paterson administration and elected officials, particularly Senator Chuck Schumer, the effort was an apparent success: The Obama administration was slated to announce on Wednesday an award of $83 million in stimulus funding for the project, according to Mr. Schumer. The money is a big lift for the project-known as Moynihan Station in honor of major backer Daniel Patrick Moynihan-and had the state lost its bid for the funding, officials involved feared it would kill the dreams for an expanded station, at least for the foreseeable future. But with the money now coming, it clears the path for something that has never occurred in its tortuous history: construction.

...All is not to say that a shiny new train hall is about to become a reality. With the project always collapsing under its own ambition, the state and Port Authority in 2009 restructured it into "bite-size chunks," in the words of one official, and the stimulus money is going toward just the first phase, $267 million in infrastructure work that would build new entrances along Eighth Avenue and expand an underground concourse on the western end of Penn Station's platforms.

Taken in isolation, this first phase does not seem a project worth the significant money being devoted to it, and now the concern becomes whether the second phase will indeed ever happen. Private developers the Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust-a partnership between which once planned a far grander scheme that involved moving Madison Square Garden-still say they are interested, and Amtrak has signed an agreement to move to the Farley Building, should a train hall be built.

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http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100216/FREE/100219928

Moynihan Station gets $83M in stimulus buck

By Theresa Agovino

The perennially delayed plan to transform New York City's main post office into a transportation hub got a boost Tuesday when Sen. Charles Schumer announced an $83.2 million federal grant to jumpstart the project.

...The federal grant means there is now enough money to start the first phase, which will cost about $220 million and take five to six years to complete. It includes expanding access to the various train tracks, creating two new entrances to the Farley building, and adding elevators, stairs and escalators.

“We've got the money now let's get to work,” said Mr. Schumer, in a statement. “The best way to get New York's economy moving again is to keep building, and the best project to get things started is Moynihan Station.”

The second phase, which is expected to cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, calls for renovating Farley and adding the retail space and creating the grand hall.