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$5B+ to Rebuild Penn Station to Previous Grandeur - Transit Group


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Calling a mulligan on one of the worst architectural decisions in the history of New York would not be a cheap endeavor in the slightest. With his record breaking 36 sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, Billy Joel seems to own Eighth Avenue between West 31st and West 33rd Streets. And moving the Piano Man—even a few blocks away—wouldn’t be economically sound. A report released today by the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management suggests relocating the arena to a nearby location would cost upwards of $5 billion, take a particularly long time and become an urban planner’s worst nightmare. The findings are part of the think tank’s study of a recently proposed overhaul of Pennsylvania Station and its extension to the James A. Farley Post Office opposite Eighth Avenue.

 

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can someone PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS THE PHENOMENON WITH RESTORING PENN STATION TO IT'S FORMER GLORY! 

 

Because Penn Station looks like it belongs in a 3rd world country, and not NYC. That place is horrible and if you travel through weekly like I do, you would say the same. It used to be beautiful... 

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Let's just turn the Farley building into "New Penn" then. Madison Square Garden was just renovated less than 5 years ago, just the thought of moving it is not justifiable right now.

 

The only reason this is even an issue is because the city sat on the air rights above Penn Station ever since PRR sold the air rights to the city which ironically led to the original Penn Station's demolition in the first place. The city gives MSG a permit to operate from there and its current permit is a short term one with 7 years remaining with the intent of building a new Penn Station and forcing MSG elsewhere when the permit expires.

 

I say get Metro-North trains into Penn and start building the damn Hudson tunnels first before building a new Penn Station.

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Tear up the current building and Madison Square Garden! MSG is hindering the growth of Penn Station. The station is hard to navigate. The ceilings are low and depressing. There are fast food restaurants in the station, and half of the place is used for AMTRAK offices, and if they were moved, then there would be better passenger circulation. I am not saying that we should replicate the old Penn Station, but we should have a great station for a great city that looks nice and is functional. While you are at it, also fix up the platforms below. Tear up some of the tracks, and make the platforms wider.

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It's not so much that MSG is in the way, but rather the way the Garden was built. It's the three Ds of a dump - dark, dank and decrepit. When the current Penn Station was built, it was done so as an afterthought to the Garden, which is why the place is the way it is. This study is interesting not in the fact that we'll never see old Pennsy again, but rather that the efforts we're making to improve Penn Station are nowhere near enough. As mentioned above, the ever popular option of converting the Farley Post Office into the new Empire/Monyihan Station, which will cost at least $3 billion, only improves Amtrak access. It does little to improve things for the LIRR and potentially Metro-North besides maybe freeing up some space. It doesn't make that section any less of a Filene's Basement.

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