A New Pitch to Fix Penn Station: Move Madison Square Garden
The New York Times
With few signs of progress on a proposed redevelopment project, one group is hoping to move the famous arena.
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.
