A New Pitch to Fix Penn Station: Move Madison Square Garden

New York Times

11-03-2025

Nearly two years after New York's governor, Kathy Hochul, vowed to fast-track the long-overdue redesign of Pennsylvania Station, little has changed for the Manhattan transit hub that she once called a 'hellhole.'
Two serious renovation proposals — one from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the other from a private developer — have both been stalled for months, leaving some to wonder if the project was dead.
Now, an influential interest group is proposing a different approach: Move Madison Square Garden, which sits on top of the station, across the street and replace it with a much bigger train hall and a park.
Expanding the train station, the busiest in the nation, is a pressing issue because construction has just begun on a $16 billion pair of rail tunnels under the Hudson River, the centerpieces of a project known as Gateway, which would double the current cross-Hudson capacity.
The added tracks could help solve the frequent delays that cause havoc for hordes of commuters. But they will not relieve the gloom of daily slogs through Penn's claustrophobic subterranean concourses. That's why so many groups have offered up their ideas for improving Penn Station.
The latest plan is proposing to pay for the construction of a new sports arena on a site that includes the former Hotel Pennsylvania on Seventh Avenue, in exchange for the right to demolish the current Garden.
The new train hall, unencumbered by the arena, could double the station's capacity to 48 trains per hour, provide a suite of new safety and accessibility features and address riders' biggest complaints about the cramped station, said Alexandros Washburn, who is leading the project for Grand Penn Community Alliance.
There would also be room to create a sprawling green space, similar in size to Bryant Park, that would effectively serve as a giant backyard for a new 125-foot-tall train hall.
'This is a chance to do it right, once and for all,' said Mr. Washburn, who is also the former chief urban designer for New York City.
He added that the plan could be achieved for roughly the same cost, about $7.5 billion, and on a similar timeline as a proposal by the M.T.A. that would leave the Garden in place.
The plan would require an as-yet unnamed developer to buy the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania, which was demolished in 2023, as well as several adjacent properties, for about $1.3 billion. The construction of a new sports arena would cost around $2.3 billion, and the new Penn Station would cost another $4 billion. Construction would begin with the new arena, so as not to disrupt programming. The entire project would take about 11 years.
But the project faces complex challenges.
Much of the proposed site for a new arena is owned by Vornado, the real estate firm that had sought to build up to 10 nearby skyscrapers, mostly dedicated to office space, as part of a plan to fund improvements in the area. The pandemic stalled that plan, and Governor Hochul announced in 2023 that the redesign of Penn Station would no longer rely on revenue from its development.
Mr. Washburn said that his group has met with Vornado about buying the proposed site and that they showed interest.
Vornado declined to comment.
Then there is the Garden, which is controlled by companies led by James Dolan, the mercurial billionaire who has resisted past calls to relocate the arena. Mr. Washburn said the move would benefit the nearly 60-year-old venue because the new site would allow for easier truck access and other modern amenities. A move, he added, could also help Mr. Dolan secure a permanent license for the arena after years of negotiating temporary extensions.
MSG Entertainment, which operates the Garden, did not respond to requests for comment.
Any plan for Penn Station must satisfy not just those groups, but also the transit hub's owner, Amtrak, the national rail company operated by the federal government.
In a statement, Amtrak repeated its commitment to upgrading the station and said it was 'essential that options are evaluated on their ability to meet the transportation needs of the region, and their ability to enhance the Northeast Corridor's critical role in powering the national and regional economy.'
A major redesign would also have to be approved jointly by the states of New York and New Jersey, which control the M.T.A. and New Jersey Transit respectively, both of which also run trains into the station.
New York is also counting on the federal government to provide billions of dollars for the station's renovation and expansion. Other than about $150 million to help pay for planning the work, none of that federal funding has been secured.
Ms. Hochul said last fall that she had sought support from then President-elect Donald Trump. But that was before a dispute broke out this year between their two administrations over the car-tolling program in Manhattan known as congestion pricing. The M.T.A., which Ms. Hochul controls, is continuing the program despite the federal government's order to halt it.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Hochul said in a statement that the governor was 'laser focused on fixing Penn Station now' and that the state would solicit proposals from the private sector, but did not provide a timeline.
The M.T.A. had previously said that it would reach a critical design goal by last summer, at which point it would revise the budget and solicit proposals from bidders. But that has not yet happened.
John J. McCarthy, the chief of policy and external relations at the M.T.A., said the agency had not seen Mr. Washburn's plan but was concentrating on projects that improved the station, like the recent completion of a new Long Island Rail Road concourse.
The agency had been critical of a competing plan by ASTM Group, a private developer that would demolish a smaller portion of the arena to make way for major transit improvements. Janno Lieber, the head of the M.T.A., called the plan wasteful, in part because it would pay Madison Square Garden for the privilege.
Peter Cipriano, the executive vice president of Halmar International, the developer of the ASTM project, said the company remained ready to compete with other bidders, if given a chance.
Yet another plan was unveiled last week by Assemblyman Tony Simone, a Democrat whose district includes Penn Station, and other elected officials. Their plan ruled out taking any private property and focused on constructing more residential buildings centered around a large park on the former site of the Hotel Pennsylvania.
Mr. Simone called on Ms. Hochul to reopen the planning process and 'engage the community on a housing-first plan.' Mr. Simone said he had pitched his idea to Vornado, and it had not been rejected.