A rendering of the proposed renovation to Penn Station. (New York Governor's Office rendering)
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in late June announced revisions to the state's approach to rebuilding New York City's Penn Station, the busiest transportation hub in North America.
The reconstruction effort has long been regarded by many of the top architects and engineers in the country as a prestigious design project — one that any firm would be lucky to land, noted NorthJersey.com.
At a recent press conference, Hochul revealed that her office had given the "notice to proceed" on preliminary design to improve Penn Station to the design team of FXCollaborative Architects LLP, WSP USA Inc., both based in the city, and the British architecture firm John McAslan + Partners.
Since announcing that group's award for the design last September, the last 10 months have been spent finalizing a "design governance agreement" among the three railroad agencies that use the station: the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Amtrak and NJ Transit.
"We're no longer tolerating delays. New Yorkers know my feelings," Hochul said at the press event June 26 with Amtrak and New York City officials in attendance. "I've not been shy talking about how [Penn Station] is inferior. It's crowded, it's congested, it's unpleasant, and New Yorkers deserve to have the bright light coming in and shining up on them. Standing united here today sends a message that we will get the job done."
Pivoting to Make Ridership Top Priority
However, ideas to fix Penn Station and the people involved are not so united.
Nearly a year ago, many of the same officials gathered to announce the Penn Station design process, including Gov. Phil Murphy, but at Hochul's recent announcement, the New Jersey governor was not in attendance as the congestion pricing controversy heightened between the two states.
"New Jersey has made no commitment beyond conceptual design as presented last summer," a Murphy spokesperson said, and is open to all options on the drawing board, particularly those that best fuse Penn Station's renovations with future plans to expand the station.
NorthJersey.com reported that, significantly, Hochul explained that the design for Penn Station's renovation is no longer dependent on a prior controversial plan that hinged improvements — and their funding — on real estate developments going up around the station, with as many as eight new skyscrapers.
Instead, she said construction of new office, retail and residential space could take place sometime in the future, but for now, the focus is on the commuter experience.
"Ridership is number one while the demand for office space is down right now," Hochul noted. "We are going to be opening up the opportunity to really just focus on this building and the immediate surrounds to create a beautiful space that the neighbors have been waiting for."
What Would a Changing Penn Station Look Like?
There are several things everyone can agree on about what Penn Station needs in order to drastically improve. They include:
- Increasing the number of escalators, elevators and stairs to the platform and track level.
- Enhancing the streetscape and public space around the station, which includes improving the movement of trucks that currently park on the sidewalk plaza along 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue because they don't have enough loading space before and after events at Madison Square Garden (MSG), which is located above the station.
- Bringing more light into the station and eliminating the underground labyrinth aesthetic.
Not surprisingly, NorthJersey.com noted, there is no consensus on how to accomplish those things amid extraordinary complications, including construction in one of the busiest areas of the world with an active, four-railroad train station and a 19,500-seat sports, concert and event arena in the middle of it.
The FX Collaborative, WSP and John McAslan group was chosen through a competitive process last year for a base contract of $57.9 million to do preliminary designs of the station. That cost is being split equally between the three railroad agencies involved.
Their work of the designers and engineers will build on the MTA Penn Station master planning effort that took place in consultation with Amtrak and NJ Transit, the former being the landlord of the station and the latter being the only other transit user of the station after Amtrak moved its operations next door to Moynihan Train Hall.
The estimated $7 billion vision would focus on the eastern side of the station toward Seventh Avenue — where some 70 percent of foot traffic is concentrated — with the centerpiece being a glassy greenhouse-looking archway known as the mid-block train hall.
Among the points of contention are figuring out how MSG will be involved in these improvements, including whether the Hulu Theater on Eighth Avenue should be dismantled and whether MSG should help fund the construction costs for renovation.
The Garden's operating permit, which is expiring in July, has allowed the arena to operate without paying property taxes for 60 years. The city is debating what MSG's next operating permit should be, whether it should begin paying property taxes, and chip in for Penn Station upgrades, which the arena stands to benefit from in improving its customer experience in getting to and from events.
The MTA is leaning toward leaving MSG's Hulu Theater untouched but building a sloped glass frame around the Eighth Avenue side of Penn Station with improved entrances on the corners of the structure along that street.
"There are different ideas and we're going to look at all of them," said Janno Lieber, head of the MTA. "Whatever we do, the Eighth Avenue experience on Penn can and will be changed, even if you don't take out the Hulu Theater."
A Competing Idea
Meanwhile, ASTM North America, a Nanuet, N.Y., design and architecture firm, has stacked its team with Pat Foye, the former head of the MTA, and Vishaan Chakrabarti, an architect who has been involved in Penn Station plans for decades, including for the Bloomberg administration.
That company has proposed a fundamentally different vision for Penn Station, NorthJersey.com reported, that focuses more on the Eighth Avenue side where they anticipate more growth from Hudson Yards development. This design team would take out the Hulu Theater and replace it with a grand, avenue-centered entrance using classical stone rectangular-looking columns.
ASTM designers argue that taking out the theater opens up significant space for the grand train hall entrance and hollows out space for loading and unloading event trucks, while also allowing parking for vehicles used by MSG and Amtrak police that otherwise take up street space. They also would create a sky-lit mid-block train hall similar to what the FX team has proposed.
The ASTM plan is estimated to be cheaper at $6 billion, which includes the firm fronting about $1 billion to kick-start a six-year construction plan and acquire the theater. The rest of the money would come from federal loans and grants through the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA).
ASTM also proposed a model where it would operate and maintain the facility for 50 years, receiving "availability payments" from the three railroads, or roughly $250 million annually with a return on ASTM's upfront equity between 8 percent and 11 percent. There would be no upfront cost for New Jersey; rather, payments would begin once construction begins to pay back the federal loans and return on equity.
John McCarthy, an MTA spokesperson, said the agency has not been presented with a detailed report of ASTM's cost estimates for their proposal.
"If ASTM is able to deliver the project at a lower cost than our estimate, we would welcome their proposal when we competitively solicit bids from design teams at the conclusion of the preliminary design phase now underway," he said in a statement.
For now, the FX collaboration team is expected to deliver 30 percent of the design before the end of 2023. After that, the MTA will put out another solicitation for bids to do final design and construction, which ASTM will be eligible to compete for. This leaves the door open to ideas outside of those envisioned by the FX team.
Other issues that will need to be addressed include how changes to Penn Station will account for potential expansion of the station to the south with proposed new tracks that would connect to the two new Gateway tunnels that are in the early phases of construction and near a federal grant agreement.
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