Gov. Cuomo Announces New Plans for Penn Station

Today, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo released plans for the total rehabilitation and refurbishing of Penn Station and the historic James A. Farley Building. The Farley Building, commonly referred as the General Post Office, will contain a new, 255,000-square-foot train hall, dubbed the Farley Train Hall, to house transportation services Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), along with 112,000 square feet of retail and almost 588,000 square feet of office space. Penn Station will also be redeveloped, which includes widening the 33^rd Street Corridor and a total rehabilitation of the subway stations running through it. The latter is part of another plan, carried out by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), to re-up 31 stations within the entire system.

With the help of the newly announced developer-builder team, which includes such real estate behemoths like Related Companies, Vornado Realty LP, and Skanska AB, Cuomo and his office will take on the seriously ambitious endeavor of remaking the busiest rail hub in North America—a feat that has stumped other New York political figures in the past. According to The New York Times, the station accommodates 600,000 commuters and travelers a day, which is tree times the amount it was originally designed for. But the governor seemed very confident at the luncheon hosted by the Association for a Better New York, where he announced the project. According to his office’s press release, the governor said “This is not a plan—this is what’s going to happen.”

The construction costs come to a total about $1.6 billion. As part of the agreement with the builder-developer team, the companies will pay the sate of a total of $600 million for the rights of the project. The rest of the funds include a $570 million stipend from Empire State Development and $425 million from Amtrak, LIRR, Port Authority, and the federal government.

Preconstruction will begin this fall, and boasts a zealous completion date of 2020.