About three years ago, former Governor Cuomo announced plans to completely redevelop and revitalize Penn Station and the neighborhood surrounding it.
The new Moynihan Train Hall was the first step of that “21st Century Empire Station Complex,” which was unveiled at the start of 2021.
And now, we have an updated look at what Penn Station may look like after the redevelopment!
Last fall Governor Kathy Hochul took over the project with her own insights and advancements, revealing her new plan–which scaled back Cuomo’s original endeavor–and seeking firms to begin designing and guiding the Penn Station reconstruction. And yesterday, June 26, the MTA and its railroad partners issued a Notice to Proceed to kick off preliminary design along with new renderings of the project.
The project is helmed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), in partnership with Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT. NYC Mayor Eric Adams has also expressed support for the renovation, saying “We are going to turn an embarrassment into a symbol of what’s great about our city,” according to NBC News.
Hochul said it will be a “commuter-first” station and that neighborhood changes will “reflect the community’s needs and focus on public transit and public realm improvements.”
The overarching plan involves completely revamping the current Penn Station (which they now have room to do since Amtrak operations moved to the new Moynihan Train Hall), and developing the surrounding neighborhood–which includes 10 new skyscrapers–to help finance the multi-billion dollar project.
The main features of Hochul’s new proposal–which she said was created after hundreds of meetings with key community players over the course of several months–include:
A single level, double-height train hall that doubles passenger circulation space on the new public level and eliminates cramped and overcrowded passageways in existing Penn Station.
This involves removing an existing floor.
A 450-foot long sunlit train hall.
This train hall will be the size of Moynihan’s and Grand Central’s halls combined.
Eight acres of public space.
This public space includes a 30,000-square foot plaza comparable to Rockefeller Plaza.
Up to 1,800 residential units in the new buildings, of which 540 would be permanently affordable.
And requiring that 40% of every building frontage is an “active use” such as retail and community facilities.
“The era of neglecting our Penn Station commuters and the neighboring community is over,” Governor Hochul said.
Penn Station is this hemisphere’s busiest transit hub, and New Yorkers deserve a world-class experience when they come to this station. I am committed to driving this critical reconstruction project forward and continuing to work with our partners in the federal government to make our shared vision for a new Penn Station a reality.”
The project will cost between six and seven billion dollars and is expected to take between four and five years to complete.
You can read even more details of the new plan on the MTA website here.