Penn Station

Developer Wants to Erect the World’s Tallest Free-Fall Ride Atop Penn Station
June 15, 2016

Developer Wants to Erect the World’s Tallest Free-Fall Ride Atop Penn Station

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Observation decks boasting panoramic city views have been to date the way to add a "thrill-seeking" element to new developments, but here's a new proposal that really wants visitors to throw their arms up in excitement. As the Daily News first reports, two Brooklyn developers want to turn the top of Penn Station into the world's tallest free-fall tower ride, an idea that would be developed alongside all the renovations planned for the outdated transit hub. "Halo," as it would be called, is the work of AE Superlab and would rise an incredible 1,200 feet from the roof of Madison Square, or be tacked onto the back of the adjacent Farley Post Office, which is slated to be converted into a waiting hall to support expanding station. And in addition to Halo's towering height (to put that 1,200 feet in perspective, the Empire State Building is 1,250 feet at its parapet), the ride's 11 cars would boast adjustable speeds. Cars could be modified to move as quickly as 100 miles per hour giving it a top-to-base free fall of about six seconds.
find out more here
Transit Think Tank Says MSG Move Could Be a $5B Example of ‘Architects Run Wild’

Rendering for a proposed new MSG by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

April 27, 2016

Transit Think Tank Says MSG Move Could Be a $5B Example of ‘Architects Run Wild’

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Moving MSG to make room for a bigger, better Penn Station train hub would be really expensive and probably not a good idea, according to a new report by transit think tank Rudin Center for Transportation Policy. Commercial Observer reports that the just-released study outlines the concern that moving the arena would come with a price tag of over $5 billion, take, like, forever, and would generally "become an urban planner’s worst nightmare." The study refers to the proposed overhaul of Pennsylvania Station and the idea of extending it to the post office off Eighth Avenue as well as suggestions by urban planners for relocating MSG.
So what's going to cost so much?
Bjarke Ingels Reveals Glassy Wave-Like Design for 2 Penn Plaza Overhaul
March 16, 2016

Bjarke Ingels Reveals Glassy Wave-Like Design for 2 Penn Plaza Overhaul

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Another day, another reveal from Danish wunderkind Bjarke Ingels. This time the starchitect has taken on a project at much-loathed Penn Station, transforming 2 Penn Plaza (the tower directly above the station and Madison Square Garden) from a nondescript, monolithic slab to a shiny, playful tower. The renderings, first spotted by NY Yimby, show a somewhat typical glass mass, but the fun begins above the ground levels, where a wave-like canopy of glass panels ushers people in to a new retail base.
More details on the proposal
Amtrak Estimates Penn Station and Hudson River Tunnel Projects Will Cost $24B

Click here to enlarge overview map >>

January 21, 2016

Amtrak Estimates Penn Station and Hudson River Tunnel Projects Will Cost $24B

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When Governor Cuomo announced his $3 billion revamp of Penn Station earlier this month, skeptics were quick to point out that all the glassy new structures and reconfiguration of waiting rooms won't do anything to help the fact that the Hudson River rail tunnels are crumbling. Clearly on the same page, Amtrak announced yesterday a detailed overview of the entire infrastructure project, and it comes in at a whopping $23.9 billion. According to the Times, "the largest share of about $7.7 billion [will go towards] building the new Hudson tunnel and repairing the existing tunnel. The project includes a host of other elements, including expanding Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan at an estimated cost of $5.9 billion, and replacing rail bridges in New Jersey."
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Renderings Revealed for Governor Cuomo’s $3B Penn Station Overhaul
January 7, 2016

Renderings Revealed for Governor Cuomo’s $3B Penn Station Overhaul

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6sqft asked readers yesterday if Governor Cuomo would finally be able to get the Penn Station overhaul off the ground, after various news outlets reported that he would be announcing a plan to do just this. The majority of you said it wasn't going to happen, but it looks like the long-envisioned project has just gotten one step closer to reality. During a press conference yesterday at Madison Square Garden, the Governor revealed that he'll be heading up a major revamp of Penn Station, which he called "un-New York," according to Gothamist. The more than $3 billion redevelopment has been dubbed the Empire Station Complex, and a request for proposals will go out this week, due back in 90 days (not good news for the decade-old deal with developers Related Cos. and Vornado Realty). As expected, it includes the long-stalled Moynihan Station project that will convert the adjacent Farley Post Office into a large waiting area, similar in size to the main room at Grand Central. This will increase the size of the nation's busiest transit hub by 50 percent and will connect to the current station by a network of underground tunnels. Though several options are on the table for a redesign, the renderings released by the Governor's office show a glassy and light structure that's quite unlike the current space that Cuomo described as "dark, constrained, ugly, a lost opportunity, a bleak warren of corridors… a miserable experience and a terrible first impression."
More details and renderings ahead
January 6, 2016

POLL: Can Governor Cuomo Finally Get the Penn Station Overhaul off the Ground?

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After chatter last month that the state may reboot the plan to expand Penn Station into the adjacent Farley Post Office, the Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Governor Cuomo will announce this week a full overhaul for the nation’s busiest transit hub. It’s expected that his plan will indeed include the projected $900 million post office redevelopment […]

State May Reboot Plan for Penn Station Expansion at the Farley Post Office
December 15, 2015

State May Reboot Plan for Penn Station Expansion at the Farley Post Office

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In 2005, the state selected the Related Cos. and Vornado Realty to oversee a $900 million redevelopment of the Penn Station-adjacent James A. Farley Post Office. The project, which came to be known as Moynihan Station, would have turned the full-block structure into an annex for Penn Station. The developers twice tried and failed to move Madison Square Garden into the space; they were also unsuccessful attracting a community college or CBS to the location. And after a promise to close this year on the deal was left empty, Governor Cuomo seems to have had enough. The New York Times reports that he and state officials met with Related and Vornado last week to voice frustrations about the long-stalled project and express the possibility that they'll be replaced.
Details on the possible shakeup
The Penn Station Atlas Wants to Make the Awful Space Less Confusing
December 9, 2015

The Penn Station Atlas Wants to Make the Awful Space Less Confusing

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"The concept behind this project is simple but powerful: a user-centric atlas of a complex space – a unique set of maps designed to help anyone easily find the best way to their destination in Penn Station." Designer John Schettino realized that even though he traveled through Penn Station every day, he'd still find himself lost in the labyrinth that has become one of New Yorkers' most loathed destinations. So he studied maps of the underground station and observed how people interacted with the space to create the New York Penn Station Atlas. The project uses 2D and 3D models that make up a set of maps to show general layout, key locations, and routes for getting from one point to another. Schettino, with a boost from the Municipal Art Society, hopes all these resources will become available for electronic devices at no cost.
Plenty more details this way
Starchitecture Firm Snøhetta Will Design Vornado’s Penn Station Area Overhaul
June 3, 2015

Starchitecture Firm Snøhetta Will Design Vornado’s Penn Station Area Overhaul

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Back in April, we learned that Vornado Realty Trust was hoping to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into revitalizing the Penn Station area with new retail space, public plazas, and other infrastructure. Now, Crain's reports that the developer has tapped Oslo-based starchitecture firm Snøhetta to handle the overhaul's master plan, the same architects responsible for the 9/11 Memorial Museum Pavilion and the public plaza in Times Square. Snøhetta will be responsible for creating a "framework" for both Vornado's Penn Plaza buildings and the surrounding street-level spaces. And in a similar vein to the recently approved One Vanderbilt scheme at Grand Central, the master plan will include closing off part of West 33rd to vehicular traffic in the hopes of creating a permanent pedestrian plaza near Madison Square Garden.
More details and specifics on the street closures ahead
June 3, 2015

POLL: Can Snøhetta Transform Manhattan’s Most-Hated Area?

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Earlier today, we learned that Vornado Realty Trust tapped Oslo-based starchitecture firm Snøhetta to create a master plan for the redesign of the Penn Station area. Even the developer referred to Manhattan’s most-hated and most-congested location as “the collision of humanity.” But Snøhetta worked their magic creating the Times Square pedestrian plaza, so we want to know if […]

Developer Vornado Plans to Spend Hundreds of Millions on Revitalizing Penn Station Area
April 8, 2015

Developer Vornado Plans to Spend Hundreds of Millions on Revitalizing Penn Station Area

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Most New Yorkers only venture to the area around Penn Station when it's absolutely necessary–traveling to New Jersey or Long Island, going to a business meeting at Penn Plaza, or seeing a Rangers game. Otherwise, we avoid it like the plague. But Vornado Realty Trust, one of the country's largest office landlords–they own roughly nine million square feet around Penn Station worth $5.5 billion–is hoping to do a complete 180 on the area by "investing hundreds of millions of dollars in new retail space, public plazas and other infrastructure, according to real-estate executives briefed on the plans," according to the Wall Street Journal.
More details ahead
Urban Planners Propose Moving Madison Square Garden to Nearby Post Office
October 23, 2014

Urban Planners Propose Moving Madison Square Garden to Nearby Post Office

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If there's one thing that all New Yorkers can agree on it's that Penn Station is pretty awful. And if we're ever going to get a new home for NJ Transit, Amtrak, and the LIRR, Madison Square Garden will have to move (just don't tell any die-hard Rangers fans that). The Alliance for a New Penn Station, a coalition of the Municipal Art Society and the Regional Plan Association, is proposing in a new report (revealed at this morning's MAS Summit) that the world-famous venue take up residency in the Morgan Post Office and Annex, occupying the block bound by 9th and 10th avenues and 28th and 30th streets. The mail sorting facility site is large enough to accommodate a new state-of-the-art arena and is just a quick walk to Penn Station. The coalition told Capital New York: “Relocating the Garden to this site will provide the city with a new arena and allow for the reconstruction and expansion of Penn Station, each of which can be designed to vastly improve the conditions of the district.”
More on the proposal and renderings of what the new site could look like
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