Penn Station

From Thomas Friedman's column in The New York Times this morning. He was writing about the lack of investment in American infrastructure, among other things:

If all Americans could compare Berlin’s luxurious central train station today with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we were the ones who lost World War II.

WNBC.com got hold of a March 25 letter from Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to Madison Square Garden Chairman James Dolan, Vornado Realty chief executive Steve Roth, and the heads of the M.T.A. and Amtrak, faulting the parties for holding up the installation of a security perimeter around Penn Station to protect what he called “the single most critical transit hub in the United States” from terrorist attacks.  read more »

With Merrill Lynch staying put downtown and plans to redevelop Penn Station in flux, Vornado CEO Steven Roth may not know what to do with the Hotel Pennsylvania--a building the company once described as "a placeholder, sort of like a parking lot."

In the meantime, the historic lodge continues to make his company some big bucks--netting roughly $37.9 million last year.

That's $10.6 million more than in 2006, according to the company's latest filing with federal regulators, which further added, "This property continues to trend higher in 2008."

With revenues on the rise, does it still make sense to raze it?  read more »

To jolt commuters from the holiday lull, Amtrak will now greet passengers at Penn Station and elsewhere with bomb-sniffing dogs, machine-gun-wielding security officers, and random carry-on bag checks starting today as part of a program to boost security measures on domestic rail lines.

A long-time proponent of upping security on America’s vulnerable rail system, Senator Charles Schumer, supported the initiative but feared that cash-strapped Amtrak might not have the personnel to make the system work without “bringing service to a screeching halt.”  read more »

One of the ongoing points of contention between civic organizations and the developers of the planned Moynihan Station complex is whether Madison Square Garden should be allowed to advertise on the Beaux-Arts façade of the Farley Post Office, which would serve as the Eighth Avenue entrance to the new arena. Today, a coalition of 17 organizations and elected officials, under the auspices of Friends of Moynihan Station, softened the hard-line preservationist approach.

The statement of principles (PDF) reads: “A limited amount of advertising as long as it is tastefully designed and managed, as it is in Grand Central.”

The Friends’ Web site actually shows a variety of advertising, including the banners in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Asked whether the banners should be allowed, Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, said, “The principle is that we are standing in front of a landmark here and the landmark has to be respected. Can there be some temporary signage for special events? Perhaps that’s going to be acceptable.”

Peg Breen, the president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, which has taken a harder line on preserving the exterior but has nonetheless signed onto the design principles announced today, said, “The Garden is going to have opportunities, as I understand it, with kiosks at the corners, mid-block and Ninth Avenue corners. Everyone is going to know where Madison Square Garden is. We want people to know there is a Post Office and great train station inside.”

Is everyone clear on this?

It’s official: midtown South has been annexed by midtown, as the prospect of billions in investment in Penn Station and some 7.5 million square feet in anticipated development by Steve Roth’s Vornado Realty Trust have convinced a major brokerage that things are changing along 34th Street.

CB Richard Ellis today announced that the Empire State Building, the Penn Plaza buildings and others in the area will now be included in the firm’s definition of “midtown.”

The move, which also stretched the boundaries to include the New York Times building on Eighth Avenue, puts about 17 million square feet of office space into midtown, according to CB Richard Ellis.

Press release after the jump.  read more »

The New York-based Savanna Real Estate Fund is planning a 100,000 square foot mixed-use building across the street from the Farley Post Office and Pennsylvania Station, a corner site home to a parking lot.

The site, 415 Eighth Avenue, is on the southwest corner of Eighth Avenue and 31st Street, a location certain to benefit from the gargantuan amount of development – about $14 billion – envisioned for the immediate area by the state, Vornado Realty Trust, and Related Companies.  read more »

The state economic development agency is paving the way to get a hold of the Farley Post Office as soon as next month, a crucial part of the Spitzer administration's new strategy for building a new Moynihan Station and revamping Pennsylvania Station.

Shortly after coming into office in January, Pat Foye, the new downstate chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, extended the option to buy Farley, but just until the end of March--an optimistic target, it seemed at the time, for wrapping up a huge real-estate deal that would have involved moving Madison Square Garden a block west, to the back end of Farley, opening up Penn Station to the sky, and erecting huge office towers around its edges on the Eighth Avenue superblock where the Garden now sits.

But it is increasingly clear that Mr. Foye will not wait until that superdeal gets worked out before buying the post office. And having control of some of the property involved would put the state in a better position to negotiate with the private developers who own Penn Station's air rights over who will pay how much to redo the station.

At a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, the ESDC board agreed to seek a bridge loan or an advance from the developers that would give the agency the few million dollars it would need to close the post-office deal next month. After the meeting, Robin Stout, the president of the Moynihan Station Development Corporation, a subsidiary of ESDC, told reporters that the agency could purchase the post office before wrapping up the larger negotiations. Neither he nor Mr. Foye would say, however, when that would happen.

"A closing date has not been scheduled but we are committed to moving forward as quickly as we can," Mr. Foye said.

A public hearing on the loan comes March 12. The state Public Authorities Control Board could then approve the general project plan--the same one, it turns out, as was rejected last October--before the end of the month, when the option expires.

Will Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver veto it this time around?

- Matthew Schuerman

The Spitzers administration's keen interest in moving Madison Square Garden (a not-very-well-kept secret) came out into the open on Thursday morning.

The board of the Empire State Development Corporation, the state economic development agency, allocated $500,000 for a supplemental environmental impact statement for the Moynihan Station project that would consider the implications--in terms of traffic, historic preservation and whatnot--of moving the basketball arena from its present home at 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue a block west, where the Farley Post Office Annex now resides.

A bigger, better Pennsylvania Station (along with a whole mess of skyscrapers) would rise in the Garden's current location and the front end of the post office would be turned into more train station.

Once the "scoping document" comes out in the next two or three months, we will learn more about what the Garden and the private developers behind the move, Vornado Realty Trust and The Related Companies, want to do back there. It will be another two or three months for a draft general project plan, and then another two or three (or more) months before reaching the final approval stage that the old Moynihan Station plan had reached last October, when it was unceremoniously dumped by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

"There are two fundamental issues on Moynihan that are threshold issues. One is the transportation issues," ESDC Downstate Chairman Patrick Foye told reporters after the meeting. "The second fundamental issue relates to ... how any overages are treated. The state and ESDC are not willing to sign on to unlimited liability and are going to be looking for participation, probably from the state and the city, and from the project developers as well."

- Matthew Schuerman

Four architectural firms presented plans to developers in closed-door meetings late last month for a  read more »

As the state, city and private developers dance and parry, NJ Transit has put forward a small, temporary solution toward easing crowding at Penn Station: a $13.8 million entrance at the corner of 31st Street and Seventh Avenue, Crain's reports. - Matthew Schuerman

Plans afoot to supplant Madison Square Garden "Four architectural firms presented plans to developers in closed-door meetings late last month for a redesigned Penn Station - with Madison Square Garden chopped off the top and moved one block west." Go to story by Matthew Schuerman Presenting the priciest downtown single-family sell "A 55-foot-wide townhouse at 11 West 10th Street has gone into contract. The asking price was $37.5 million. If it closed near there, this 1847 mansion would be the most expensive single-family residence downtown." Go to story by Max Abelson Brooklyn building booming - is that a good thing? "There's a building boom underway across the East River, in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. This is a good thing. Or so you'd think." Go to editorial  read more »

Fans of bagel dogs and other Bronx-made baked goods, get ready for more crusty carbs, in a somewhat unusual setting. Zaro's New York Bakery will soon open its 13th area store--far removed from its typical train-station or bus-terminal digs.

Having already established a dominating presence at the city's transit hubs--including four stores at Grand Central, two at Penn Station, and another at Port Authority--Zaro's is now targeting Flatiron-area flatfoots.

At its newest location, next door to Mayrose Comfortable Food at the corner of Broadway and 21st Street, contractors worked well past sunset on Friday to install new windows. Seems the circa-1977 chain is in a hurry to expand its audience beyond the Amtrak and LIRR set.

"We are hoping to be open by the end of the year," proprietor Joseph Zaro tells The Observer in an e-mail, "but with construction, one never knows!"  read more »

- Chris Shott

During a recent and rainy rush hour at Penn Station, dripping umbrellas and dirt tracked in from squ  read more »

Brookfield Properties is planning "a huge new office development" on a recently completed assemblage between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, 31st and 33rd Streets, The Post reports, behind what would be Madison Square Garden if the Moynihan-Penn Station deal ever gets done. On the other hand, don't get too excited. Steve Cuozzo quotes a source saying, "They will not build on spec, but are considering a two-building or a three-building option depending on tenant interest." -Matthew Schuerman

Fresh from vetoing the project to turn the Farley Post Office Building into Moynihan Station, a new  read more »

Fresh from vetoing the project to turn the Farley Post Office Building into Moynihan Station, a new  read more »

Holding out for his compromise proposal extended this morning, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (or, rather, his appointee) voted against the Moynihan Station project at today's Public Authorities Control Board meeting. "We thought our alternative provided the critical advantages that we needed and we thought it would be better for a full, safe modern transporation facility," Silver's spokesman Skip Carrier said.

The Governor had threatened to nullify the agreement with Related and Vornado and start over again--or, in a way, did Silver just do that?--by bidding out a larger plan to move Madison Square Garden and redo Pennsylvania Station. A statement explaining how far he is willing to go is coming out soon.

Sort of a West Side Stadium, Part II, except this time Pataki, not Bloomberg, is the loser.

-Matthew Schuerman

Just how much leverage does an exiting Governor have over a recalcitrant Assembly Speaker who refuses to approve the Moynihan Station plan that Pataki has worked on for just about all of his 12 years in office? Well, there is always the press conference, which he held today in the foyer of the Farley Post Office, where the station (technically an extension of the existing Pennsylvania Station) would go. And then there is the footage of the press conference, which the Governor's press office, in an unusual move, is providing via satellite feed in time for the evening news. The Public Authorities Control Board--the panel that, because of Sheldon Silver's reluctance, has resisted approving the project--is scheduled to meet tomorrow for the last time before the November election.

The Mayor, by the way, got quoted in the press release, but did not make it to the event itself, which is emblematic of the way he has stood on the sidelines while watching Silver and Pataki fight.

-Matthew Schuerman

Governor George Pataki’s aides are scrambling to get the jackhammers going at Moynihan Station  read more »

Governor George Pataki’s aides are scrambling to get the jackhammers going at Moynihan Station in  read more »

With Labor Day Weekend just a few hours away, The Transom decided to go straight to the source: the Long Island Rail Road section of Penn Station. The trip got off to an inauspicious start, however, when a faux-pas was committed: hugging a young child on the subway.

Her sweatshirt read: 'Aww someone needs a hug.' A reminder of that didn't cut it with her father. "Get outta here," he said.  read more »

In Penn Station, it was nuts. The 3:21 for the Fire Island ferries was leaving soon, as was the 3:58 to Montauk. In the ruckus was Gabby, a 22-year-old assistant at a PR firm in Manhattan: "I'm spending my last weekend in East Hampton!" she said. She looked more 25 than 22. "I was out 'til 4 last night! I'm busted right now!" There was an awkward silence. Was she nervous about the weather warnings? Not at all. "If it's not the beach, it's the clubs!"

As a present for her husband Gary’s 60th birthday, Diane Farnham, of Bath, England, booked a four-  read more »

Marty Golden and NYC Department of Design and Construction officials will tour the Fort Hamilton Roadway reconstruction project.

John Faso will campaign at Penn Station.

Board of Elections Executive Director John Ravits will announce a poll worker outreach effort during screening of the documentary By The People at the Manhattan BOE headquarters.

NY1 hosts a debate between Tom Suozzi and Eliot Spitzer. Azi has the debate party details.

—Nicole Brydson

Gargano Responds

To the Editor:  read more »

Gargano Responds   To the Editor:    read more »

Moynihan’s Grand Vision    read more »

• Steves Roth and Ross have a little $7 billion plan to move Madison Square Garden a block west. And to build the Farley Post Office into Moynihan Station, of course. And to transform Pennsylvania Station by erecting a monumental glass canopy (plus 20 Corinthian columns). And to construct five towers on top of Penn Station. "We are about making money here on a grand scale," Mr. Roth admits. (A political "battle royale" The Times declares, "seems unlikely.") (The New York Times)
• Jonathan Lethem flexes his argumentative muscles, penning a 2317-word open later to Frank Gehry. Some choice phrases: "out-of-scale flotilla of skyscrapers," "mendacious flimflam," and "slickly patronizing." (Slate, via Curbed)
• Really, our hotel industry is doing just fine: if the Hotel Association of NYC ratifies a new labor deal with the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council today, a potentially horrific citywide strike just might be avoided. (Crain's)
• Can shunning real estate brokers save sellers money? Sort of. But Prudential Douglas Elliman Senior VP Corinne Pulitzer makes a really convincing case against independence: "We don't drill our own teeth if we're a dentist, and we would go to a real estate professional--both buyer and seller--to understand the data." Exactly. (NY1)
• Weird New York beaches are all the rage: the only thing keeping Manhattan tanners from the scenic shores of Astoria, Battery Park and DUMBO are the beaches' isolation, neglect and pollution--plus the potential for drowning. (NY Daily News)
• You only have to sacrifice a nation-high $175 (per foot, of course) in order to join the so-called Country Club--a group of skyscrapingly elite Manhattan office buildings. It's really a small price to pay for hanging out with Ron "Klimt" Lauder. (New York Post)
- Max Abelson
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The plan to turn the Farley Post Office building at Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street into a commuter-ra  read more »

Steven Roth lost the deal to lease the World Trade Center five years ago this month.  read more »

Crain's is reporting that the Dolans have finally agreed to rebuild the jinxy Madison Square Garden one block west, on Ninth Avenue, as part of the renovation of the Farley post-office building. They're sourcing it anonymously.

A new office tower would go up above Penn Station instead.  read more »

[A] source said The Related Cos. brokered the deal by smoothing over hard feelings remaining from the West Side stadium fight between the Bloomberg administration and Cablevision executive James Dolan, the Garden’s chairman.

Meanwhile, office and retail development originally scheduled for the western end of the Farley block will be scotched to make way for the new Garden. - Tom McGeveran

Troubled Amtrak has long worked well in the Northeast Corridor--Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, various Connecticut cities, Providence, Boston.

So now the Bush administration, according to The New York Times, has a new solution: Charge surplus-addled commuter rail systems in those cities for their use of Amtrak facilities--tracks, stations, etc.

The plan, according to The Times,

could hit New Jersey Transit hard, because it operates many trains over long routes. The Long Island Rail Road could be charged more for using Pennsylvania Station in New York City. Metro-North Railroad, which terminates in New Haven, runs on tracks owned by New York and Connecticut, but the Shore Line East, which runs east of New Haven, operates on Amtrak tracks and could be hit for more. Septa, which serves the Philadelphia area, and the commuter systems serving Boston, Wilmington and Baltimore would also be subject to new charges.

But can they actually do this? The commuter rails already have arrangements with Amtrak for the use of their facilities.

And in New York, where a greater portion of commuter rail is already funded through fare-paying customers, are Amtrak trains serving the region to be partially subsidized by suburban commuters?

As it is, the successful New Jersey Transit and Long Island Railroad lines are likely to be the ones footing the bill for the new Penn Station--which will be across the street from Amtrak's old "vomitorium," Penn Station. Remember the big plans for a rail hub that would welcome commuters to the city? To paraphrase Vincent Scully, now suburban commuters who already work in the city will be entering like emperors, while tourists slither in like rats.  read more »

- Tom McGeveran

The Gutter has posted this hysterical take on Herbert Muschamp's gay Huntington-Hartford opus, from an anonymous correspondent.

Bonus dirty excerpt:  read more »

Meanwhile, a few blocks south, Pennsylvania Station was being a really bad building, but a really good one, too. Mr. Hartford had a collection of poodle art that he kept in the gallery, which is why it had no windows.

We should get such mail. - Tom McGeveran

Who's winning the battle of the front pages?

The Media Mob would like to reward the Post for scaling back its Post Poker ad and getting a nice big screamer headline out there. But the Media Mob happened to first spot this front page out the corner of one eye in its natural competitive habitat--on a Penn Station newspaper rack. And on that newsstand stroll-by, the most salient impression was that "Ferrer ad / lewd diss / to Mike / & Bush" is indecipherable jibber-jabber.  read more »

So the Daily News--despite somehow using a photo of George Bush that doesn't look like George Bush--carries the day again.

Winner: Daily News Overall standings: Daily News 6, New York Post 2

Paul Goldberger called it "a graceless, sloppy, cheap entertainment and office complex that would be an insult to an empty site in the middle of nowhere." So who wants to save Penn Station?

It has been noted here before that the New York Times loves the term “McMansion.” However, Jon Gertner’s excellent magazine piece is an welcome exception to the typical use of the term. Mr. Gertner follows the buying of land, and rampant building of McMansions, err Estate Homes, throughout the country. Only 10 years or so until New Jersey is completely built up.

Upper Deck CEO Richard McWilliam is attempting a $15 million flip on Central Park South, according to the New York Times. Interesting, but haven’t we heard this news somewhere before.

Ivan Reitman will be checking into the Sherry-Netherland Hotel for $30,000 a month, and Carlos Beltran recently dropped $4 million on a Grand Beekman condo, according to the New York Post. Also, Russell Simmons has slashed his asking price down to $8.2 million, but I think we’ve heard that news before, too.  read more »

The New York Post gets bubble wrapped, and finds broker and buyers speculating about the much-discussed stats gleaned from the 3rd quarter market reports. While almost every market-related piece analyzes the drop in average sales price, there are plenty of other points worthy of consideration. Finally: hipster pharmacies.

-Michael Calderone

A few nights ago, my sister called from her cell phone to make dinner plans in Manhattan.  read more »

A few nights ago, my sister called from her cell phone to make dinner plans in Manhattan.  read more »

The New York Times reports today that Vornado and Related have sealed the deal to develop Moynihan Station--that's the old Farley post office building accross the street from Penn Station (which was once referred to by a critic as the city's "vomitory.") They won because they had the highest bid; they had the highest bid because they're going to take the "air rights" from over the station and transfer them across the street where they're building an office tower, at 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue.  read more »

Toward the end of an industry luncheon one recent Wednesday, after the roast chicken but before the  read more »

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, late a Senator from New York, can still pack them in.  read more »

Senator Hilary Clinton had just spent several hours on Friday, Sept.  read more »

Thirty years ago, eight city officials-the Mayor, the Comptroller, the City Council president and th  read more »

Over an Irish coffee at O'Neill's pub on Third Avenue, where she and proprietor Ciaran Staunton exch  read more »

Board 5 O.K.'s Facelift ForColumbus Circle's 'Lollipop Building'  read more »

At 2 p.m. on the afternoon of Oct.  read more »

`City and state officials are close to resolving a year-long dispute that had stalled plans for a ne  read more »

On April 1, while in his offices at the Woodrow Wilson Center inWashington, D.C., former Senator Dan  read more »

There's something wonderfully hectic about my friend Francesca.  read more »

You may have heard, no doubt to your horror, that a midlevel employee of the Taxi and Limousine Comm  read more »

The new Pennsylvania Station planned for the James A.  read more »