Fellow New Yorkers — the stars are aligned.
Amtrak recently chose three development teams to move forward with plans for a new Penn Station. In May one will be selected.
Andy Byford, the beloved “train daddy” and special advisor to the Amtrak Board of Directors, winnowed the list down, and so we can only assume he sees merit in all three.
I haven’t seen them all, but I believe only one promises to be truly transformative, to create a station and public space that will aerate a jam-packed corner of Manhattan with a new park, and feature a soaring waiting room harking back to the classical heritage of the original station.
This is the plan inspired by the Grand Penn Community Alliance.
I’ve been involved in transportation issues for my entire professional life, including 25 years as head of the Regional Plan Association, the nonprofit that views the tri-state region as a holistic transit whole.
Penn Station is the lynchpin of our region’s transportation systems. It starts there and ends there.
I believe so much in Grand Penn’s vision that I’ve come out of retirement and joined as chief planner. It’s not a choice I made lightly, but as I said — you only get a shot like this once.
So how are the stars aligned? Donald Trump is, crucially, a developer and he’s a fan of classical architecture.
Trump is in a position to add something magnificent to his legacy. And his imprimatur is key, because unlike the other plans, Grand Penn’s vision requires one big change — moving Madison Square Garden across the street.
But there’s another aligned star here: at the moment a big, beautiful vacant lot sits across Seventh Ave. where the storied Hotel Pennsylvania once stood. It has never been easier in history to find a wonderful new home for MSG.
Of course we all love Madison Square Garden — how many Knicks and Rangers games did we see there? How many Billy Joel concerts? How many times did we take our children to the circus there?
But folks also loved the first and then second Madison Square Gardens, which, of course, were located on Madison Square. The present location is actually the fourth Garden.
So the stars are aligned for Madison Square Garden and its owner, as well. Building a new arena just across Seventh Ave. would allow all the modern conveniences, including easy loading for modern day concerts and sporting events, and allowing the same subway and LIRR access fans now enjoy.
James Dolan, the arena’s owner, recently opened his magnificent Sphere venue in Las Vegas. We can only imagine what he’d do on Seventh Ave.
But it also makes our transformative vision for Penn a real-life possibility. Putting an arena — even a world-class one — atop the nation’s busiest train station required numerous compromises. Let’s remember — the glorious Penn Station built in 1910 by McKim, Mead & White wasn’t destroyed, it was decapitated. Its bones and foundation remain.
But all those columns turning the platforms into mazes? The low-ceiling waiting areas? The mid-block dock for trucks to load and unload? These are a result of building an arena above a station.
In our plan, that’s all gone. A beautiful new Madison Square Garden rises to the East and the station has a soaring waiting room. Most of those columns are gone, improving easy access.
And with all the extra space, we give New York a park — one on the scale of Bryant Park, where the tax rolls of the buildings around it have gone up, up, up.
Let’s seize this once in a lifetime opportunity.
Yaro, former head of the Regional Plan Association, is chief planner for the Grand Penn Community Alliance.
