NEW YORK | Empire Station District | 9 Towers (18-20 msf)| FT | FLOORS

[NYguy]

Some renderings from her announcement, though most are not new…

[Busy Bee]

Hochul said her version of the Penn rehab will take four to five years to complete and cost $6 to $7 billion, funded by taxes on the new skyscrapers. The station will be renamed after a New Yorker when all is said and done, she said. MTA public materials about the project have dubbed it the “Empire Station Complex.”

“Has anybody ever asked the question why we have the largest transit hub in the Western Hemisphere, named after a neighboring state?” Hochul joked. “I believe the new station for New York should be named for a New Yorker, or something to do with how iconic New York State is, and how amazing it is.”

“There’ll come a time when people say, ‘I never even heard of Penn Station,'” she added.

I'm with her will eveything except for this. DO NOT RENAME PENNSYLVANIA STATION! There is no f***ing reason to rename Penn Station. We already honor named the Moynihan Train Hall after a famous New Yorker, you know Dan Pat Moynihan. Does she really not know why its named Pennsylvania Station? Surely she knows the answer to that.

“There’ll come a time when people say, ‘I never even heard of Penn Station,'” she added

This is probably one of the most depressing things ive ever read.

[Busy Bee]

Every one of those rendering skyscrapers with the hanging gardens of Babylon looks like a scene from Life After People.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Every one of those rendering skyscrapers with the hanging gardens of Babylon looks like a scene from Life After People.

I wouldn’t worry to much about that. We’re too far removed from even getting a developer for those sites, let alone an architect. It’s a spinoff of those Penn Plaza renderings from Vornado/Foster, though I’m sure we will get some version of that.

[nlosborne1]

Does this plan have any implications for the bus terminal redevelopment? Will we see the same scale of buildings and new terminal?

[MAC123]

Originally Posted by nlosborne1

Does this plan have any implications for the bus terminal redevelopment? Will we see the same scale of buildings and new terminal?

I have no idea of any specific implications. But all major developments in the city work with and around all other major development. Nobody starts these without planning for current and future mega developments.

[NYguy]

^ Yes, it’s all a part of a whole. It’s why Cuomo always brought up everything else (airports, bridges) whenever discussing these projects.

Originally Posted by nlosborne1

Does this plan have any implications for the bus terminal redevelopment? Will we see the same scale of buildings and new terminal?

The Penn Station redevelopment is in it’s own process, like the redevelopment of the bus terminal. Each required it’s own approvals and reviews. The governor hasn’t signaled any changes for the current bus terminal plan, but she spoke about it not that long ago here….

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9424320&postcount=53

[NYguy]

The headlines are still off, but they'll come around...


https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/11/04/h...alk-through-but-wont-add-train-capacity/

size=4]ANALYSIS: Hochul’s New Penn Station Will Be Pleasant To Walk Through, But Won’t Add Train Capacity[/size]

By Dave Colon
Nov 4, 2021

Gov. Hochul’s announcement on Wednesday that New York was building a “Penn Station worthy of New Yorkers” had the pomp and circumstance of a can’t-miss infrastructural announcement, but beyond a billion-dollar facelift, advocates say riders will have to keep waiting for more train service.

When the recently revealed plan is finished, Penn will have a single floor above its boarding platforms instead of the two floor layout that limits ceiling height on its main concourse. But while the cosmetic improvements will make Penn a more pleasant place, advocates say that it’s still not a game changer for transit service into and out of Midtown Manhattan.

“If you are a transit rider in the region, you’re not going to be much better off than you were,” said Tri-State Transportation Campaign Director of Regional Infrastructure Projects Felicia Park-Rogers. “You’ll have a more pleasant space to walk in and out of, but there’s nothing being done in that scenario that improves the actual transit.”

Hochul’s plan is one that’s less Robert Moses and more Bjarke Ingels, focusing on the (relatively) smaller task of turning Penn Station from an underground pit to a slightly less pit-like train hall. The refurbishment, which was developed by the MTA, will seek to open up Penn Station by giving it a single level above the train platforms, instead of the current two levels above the platforms. Getting in to the station will also be made more convenient through the addition of 18 more escalators and 11 more elevators.

Hopefully, at the end of the day, they got to hear what the governor was actually saying.




https://www.crainsnewyork.com/transporta...unveils-plan-fix-and-rename-penn-station

Hochul unveils plan to fix—and rename—Penn Station


November 4, 2021

Governor Kathy Hochul offered her vision for redeveloping Pennsylvania Station and the surrounding neighborhood, scaling back plans championed by her predecessor Andrew Cuomo.

The new proposal focuses on modernizing the existing rail hub instead of building a new terminal, Hochul announced Wednesday. The reimagined Penn Station—serving Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit commuters—will be on a single-level, doubling circulation space on the main hall and adding more accessibility, natural light and escalators.

The station will also get a new name: “something to do with how iconic New York State is,” Hochul said.

“This is a window of opportunity,” said Janno Lieber, acting chairman and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “NJ Transit is saying that their ridership is going to double. So we’ve got to get this done, we can’t let the moment slip by.

New towers would bring more workers to an area that’s on the southern fringe of Midtown and east of the massive Hudson Yards development. Vornado Realty Trust, a major New York office landlord, owns much of the land that is being targeted for development.

“Vornado fully supports the efforts of Governor Hochul and the transportation agencies to improve the user experience of Penn Station for commuters, revitalize the area with transit- oriented development, and provide significant public realm and subway improvements for the community,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement.

[MAC123]

Originally Posted by NYguy

The headlines are still off, but they'll come around...

Did these people even read the article? Even forgetting the fact that redeveloping Penn itself will increase capacity, ease of use and etc. Penn south is still going to happen. She's just not going to wait for its approvals before starting the renovation, it's still very much happening and will happen while Penn is getting the reno.

[NYguy]

^ They don’t wanna “miss” reporting the story, but end up misreporting instead.



https://www.thecity.nyc/platform/amp/202...-plan-risky-bets-on-office-building-boom

As Hochul Launches Penn Station Revival Plan, Risky Bets Placed on Office Building Boom

By Greg David
November 4, 2021

Even if Gov. Kathy Hochul’s scaled-down plan to build office towers around Penn Station to revitalize the area and pay for a new transit station proceeds smoothly, construction on the first building wouldn’t begin for two years.

By then, it likely will be clear whether the city’s economy has rebounded from the pandemic recession and whether companies will fully embrace a return to the office.

But three of New York’s biggest real estate companies are not waiting around — instead, they’re wagering billion-dollar bets that COVID-spurred remote working and vacancies will give way to an office boom.

“Come on. Firms who [rely on remote work] are going to suffer,” SL Green CEO Marc Holiday dismissively told a stock analyst who questioned his commitment to building more office space during a recent conference call.

“The technology firms are growing. The startups are growing. Business services are growing,” he added.

SL Green, the city’s largest owner of commercial office space, is spending $3 billion to build a modern and expensive-to-rent office building on Madison Avenue between 23rd and 24th streets rising out of the historic home of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

Meanwhile, RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone are anxiously awaiting final City Council approval to tear down the Hyatt Grand Central New York — the project that thrust Donald Trump into the New York spotlight in the early 1980s, long before his presidency.

The companies plan to replace the building over Grand Central Terminal with a modern 2.2 million-square-foot office tower that includes a modestly sized hotel and retail. RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone won’t put a price tag on its joint project just yet but agree that at least $3 billion will be needed.

“Companies are looking for buildings with amenities, modern infrastructure and access to transit that will help them draw their teams back to the office,” said Scott Rechler, the CEO of RXR.

The Grand Central project, now named 175 Park, if approved, will begin demolition next year.

The new building will be 83 stories, with a downsized Hyatt hotel and office space that will be among the costliest in the city. The project is rising under the Midtown East zoning hatched during the Bloomberg administration and finally enacted three years after de Blasio’s election. The goal: to spur new office construction in Midtown.

The group will spend upwards of $400 million improving the claustrophobic subway stop below the building. Plans call for raising the ceilings, restructuring the entrance hall, replacing passages and opening up the mezzanine level as well as adding 25,000 square feet of public terraces.

Deciding to proceed was an easy decision to make because of the success of SL Green’s One Vanderbilt, the city’s newest skyscraper, on the west side of Grand Central Terminal, Rechler said.

That building is more than 91% leased, despite the pandemic. It is getting rents of $150 to $200 a square foot for the lower floors, compared with an average of a little more than $70 for the neighborhood, recent real estate reports show.

SL Green is asking $322 a square foot for the top 93rd floor, which is more than the city’s record of $300 a square foot paid by the hedge fund Citadel at 425 Park Avenue in 2019.

“The building demonstrates the high demand for quality office space,” Rechler added.

…..Rechler, too, is talking to tech companies and feeling confident he can snare the anchor tenant that will allow him to get the financing he needs.

“Compared with a year ago, some of this risk has been mitigated by One Vanderbilt,” he said.

SL Green and the RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone partners are wagering that real estate winners will be modern buildings, despite high rents — and the losers will be older buildings with small floors, columns jutting through the space and outmoded office infrastructure.

“What the East Side zoning has done is put good policy in place where everyone knows the rules,” said Rechler.

[BK1985]

Hopefully with the influx of the new class A office space, this will lead to residential conversion of the older office stock with smaller floorplates.

[NYguy]

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/commuterregional/for-ny-penn-station-a-new-path-forward/

For NY Penn Station, a New Path Forward

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
November4, 2021

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Nov. 3 unveiled a new plan for New York City’s Penn Station that will prioritize and expedite reconstruction of the existing station, 60% of whose users are MTA New York City Transit subway and Long Island Rail Road riders.

While no date has been set to start the project, Gov. Hochul estimated it would take 4-5 years to complete and come with a price tag of $6 billion-$7 billion.

Station expansion and the Gateway Project initiatives “both of which the governor strongly supports,” and were part of the previous plan, will continue on “their federally established timelines,” according to the governor’s office.

According to a Nov. 3 report in The New York Times, “New York officials said that they expected the federal government to cover half of the cost of overhauling Penn Station and New Jersey to cover 25% … The portion paid by New York State would be derived from the development of the [10] new towers, whose owners would contribute part of the revenue from office leases, retail sales and other sources, the officials said.”

The Times report pointed out that the most recent plan by former New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo “called for allowing 10 supertall towers to be built in Midtown Manhattan and using money from that development to finance the construction of nine additional sets of track, five platforms and other infrastructure upgrades, which officials say are necessary to avoid overcrowding and transit delays at North America’s busiest train station.

The development would have also paid for cosmetic improvements at Penn Station, and Mr. Cuomo argued that all of it had to happen as a single project to be financially viable.

“But Ms. Hochul said that the renovation of Penn Station and construction of new towers could move forward without the track and infrastructure upgrades and without jeopardizing future funding for them, though details on exactly how that would work were thin.”

[NYguy]

Well, whadaya know, looks who’s already whining again…..


https://nypost.com/2021/11/04/nyc-land-use-chair-never-heard-of-gov-hochuls-penn-station-plan/amp/

Land use chair ‘never heard of’ Gov. Hochul’s Penn Station plan


By David Meyer
November 4, 2021

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday claimed her slightly-modified take on disgraced predecessor Andrew Cuomo’s controversial Penn Station plan had come out of discussions with the community — but at least one prominent neighborhood activist says she wasn’t consulted.

Layla Law-Gisiko, the land use chair for Manhattan Community Board 5, said she was blindsided by Hochul’s announcement that the state would move forward with Cuomo’s plan but reduce the overall size of its 10 new skyscrapers by 7 percent.

“The governor made an announcement referring to the community. I’m not quite sure which community she’s referring to because we had never heard of this new plan before she came up to the podium yesterday,” Law-Gisiko told The Post on Thursday. “We don’t know, really, what the proposal entails. From what we’ve seen from what she presented yesterday, it’s a modestly altered proposal.”

“The expansion is excised from this particular proposal, but it will be reviewed at a later time, so what’s the difference, really?” asked Law-Gisiko. “The real estate portion of the project is something that should come last. Now is not the time to think about this total distraction. We’ll get to it later.”

Hochul’s plan, like Cuomo’s, would be paid for by taxes on 10 new skyscrapers built by Vornado Realty Trust. The project is expected to cost $6 to $7 billion.

Rachael Fauss of government watchdog Reinvent Albany warned that officials may regret tying the transit hub’s funding to development if that development fails to materialize.

“It still seems like it’s going to be a development-generated funding mechanism. That means that the city is going to have its taxpayer dollars siphoned off for a state project,” she said. “There are questions about whether the development can support the amount of money that’s needed. And if it doesn’t support it, who pays for it?”

The new towers would be vetted through something called a “General Project Plan,” a state process that circumvents the city zoning law by classifying the area as a slum.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman, who voted against the General Project Plan in the state legislature, called Hochul’s modifications “a positive step.” He said he believes Hochul is sincere in her state commitment to community engagement.

“I take her at her word, and certainly she’s shown in the few months that she has been in office that she weighs local input,” Hoylman said. “Look at her decisions on economic development projects. They’ve been largely shaped by the response from local neighborhoods. So that does give me a confidence that she will have a plan that allows our local community a seat at the table.”

https://patch.com/new-york/midtown-nyc/a...-station-plan-falls-short-coalition-says

New Penn Station Plan Falls Short, Coalition Says
The Empire State Coalition pushed the governor to focus more on the station itself than on real estate around it.


By Michelle Rotuno-Johnson, Patch Staff
Nov 4, 2021

A Manhattan coalition said Gov. Kathy Hochul's recently unveiled plan for Penn Station and the surrounding neighborhood is a welcome departure from previous plans, but falls short of what residents need.

…Residents "are being thrown peanuts, said Lynn Ellsworth, co-coordinator of the Empire State Coalition and leader of Human Scale New York.

"The tweaks to the project do not represent something new and game-changing," she said in a statement. "We are disappointed."

The Vornado Realty Trust planned to develop the project in Cuomo's original plan.

"...the Governor has listened too much to the interests of those closely connected to Big Real Estate and to those lacking vision at MTA and Amtrak," Ellsworth said. "The net effect, sadly, is that the Governor is merely tinkering with Vornado’s project. The upshot? They are still imposing on New Yorkers a second, even larger Hudson Yards project to surround Madison Square Garden. This will not serve commuters and residents of the city.”

[BK1985]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Well, whadaya know, looks who’s already whining again…..

LOL, Damn. We should have all taken bets.

[Busy Bee]

"...the Governor has listened too much to the interests of those closely connected to Big Real Estate and to those lacking vision at MTA and Amtrak," Ellsworth said. "The net effect, sadly, is that the Governor is merely tinkering with Vornado’s project. The upshot? They are still imposing on New Yorkers a second, even larger Hudson Yards project to surround Madison Square Garden. This will not serve commuters and residents of the city.”

I think this is undoubtedly true.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by BK1985

LOL, Damn. We should have all taken bets.

Well, you know those people were never gonna be happy. They thought with Cuomo gone, this project would go with him. But it was never a "Cuomo" project. Hochul could have cut the entire project in half, and they'd still be whining about office space, in the middle of Manhattan, on top of the busiest transit center in the nation. New York is a great big city. If a relatively small portion of it has to be dedicated to commerce and transportation - which benefits not only the city, but the entire region, then so be it. There's housing in the plan, and they don't care about that. The bottom line is they just fear towers. It's irrational, bordering on insanity. This area has been neglected for decades, and they would be perfectly fine if it stayed that way, thank you very much. It's time to stop pandering to people who will only have it their way or no way. Thank god we have people in charge who insists on getting things done one way or another.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

I'm with her will eveything except for this. DO NOT RENAME PENNSYLVANIA STATION! There is no f***ing reason to rename Penn Station. We already honor named the Moynihan Train Hall after a famous New Yorker, you know Dan Pat Moynihan. Does she really not know why its named Pennsylvania Station? Surely she knows the answer to that.


This is probably one of the most depressing things ive ever read.

no, but you know what's actually depressing? that hideous and self-hateful rathole maze of the current penn station.

so call it whatever they want, i dont care, just git'r done and modernize it.

[NYguy]

Approvals process back in motion….

[NYguy]

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/commercial...it-would-shrink-accommodate-penn-station

Madison Square Garden owner hints it would shrink to accommodate Penn Station revamp


AARON ELSTEIN
November 9, 2021

Madison Square Garden officials might be willing to sell a portion of the world’s most famous arena to clear the way for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to rebuild Penn Station.

“When the opportunity presents, that makes sense both strategically and financially, we will take that opportunity to create value,” MSG Entertainment President Andrew Lustgarten said on a conference call Tuesday, in response to a question from an analyst.

Last week Gov. Hochul unveiled her plan for redeveloping Penn Station, the nation’s largest commuter hub that is entombed underneath the Garden. Under the preliminary proposal, the arena would remain where it is, but renderings showed a grand new entrance on Eighth Avenue across from Moynihan Train Hall. Building that entrance would require demolishing the Hulu Theater at MSG.

“There will be a time to monetize,” Lustgarten said—meaning sell the theater—but added he doesn’t think a deal would be struck soon.

LightShed Partners analyst Brandon Ross estimated in 2016 that the 5,600-seat theater was worth $77 million.

Even bigger money from a Penn Station renovation could be realized by the Garden and Chief Executive James Dolan selling developers the right to build nearby.

Under zoning rules, the Garden would be granted additional air rights if the arena is utilized to renovate Penn Station, said Ross, who estimated five years ago the existing rights were worth $1.3 billion. Air rights are transferable and would be attractive to Vornado Realty Trust or other developers eyeing the area. Hochul envisions that tax revenue from up to 10 new towers would help pay for the state’s share of rebuilding Penn Station.

“The plans are in their infancy,” Ross said.

Lustgarten said MSG fully supports Hochul’s efforts to redevelop Penn Station and the surrounding streets.

“We look forward to continue working with her on many things to come that are currently in progress,” he said.

[Busy Bee]

Oh just fucking move.