The New Penn Station

July 19, 2005

A project to transform the main post office on the west side of Manhattan into a new multi-million dollar transit hub is back on the fast track after a series of delays. The city announced Monday that Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust have won the bid to transform the Farley Building on Eighth Avenue into the new Moynihan Station, a rail station whose main tenants will be New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Railroad.

The rail terminal will also house retail shops, restaurants and a hotel. “It will be a great transit hub,” said Governor George Pataki. “It will be a great gateway for the greatest city in the world, right here.” “We hold this responsibility dearly,” said Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth.

Originally named after the nation’s 53rd postmaster general, the Farley Building’s new name will honor four-term New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who died in 2003. The project was conceived by the late senator, and after some setbacks it appears to be back on track. “Damn it, we deserve a proper train station instead of coming in and out through that hole under a basketball court,” Maura Moynihan, the late senator’s daughter, said Monday, referring to the current entrance to Penn Station, which sits under Madison Square Garden.

The post office will continue to operate out of a small section of the building, and the façade of the building will remain intact. The price tag for the project is estimated at $818 million. The city is putting in $158 million for infrastructure costs, while the state and federal government will pick up the rest of the tab. Construction on the façade of the building is expected to start this year, and the entire project is expected to be completed by 2011.

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=52185

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