An Italian industrial firm is pitching local lawmakers a plan to rethink and downsize the controversial $7 billion overhauling of New York’s Penn Station.
The new proposal from the ASTM Group is still in the preliminary stages, though the company has hired former Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman Pat Foye and the designers behind LaGuardia Airport’s new Central Terminal to push the plan.
“Our team has developed a game-changing plan to fully deliver on Gov. Hochul’s new vision for a reimagined Penn Station that is iconic, spacious, accessible, and full of light and air, as well as improves the functionality for all users,” said the firm’s chief executive, Chris Larsen, in a statement.
Backers of the ASTM project said they expect it to be less expensive than the current $7 billion price tag, but its not yet clear by how much.
The current plan — proposed by the MTA and the state’s economic development arm, Empire State Development — would be financed by revenues generated from the construction of new office towers.
However, there is little demand for new commercial space as work-from-home arrangements have remained popular with employees following the coronavirus pandemic.
Vornado, the developer, has told its shareholders it does not expect there to be sufficient demand to justify the expense of constructing the towers anytime soon.
The renderings from ASTM were first published by The New York Times.
“The schematics are very impressive, but they’re only that,” said state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), whose district includes half the sprawling complex. “I’m glad there’s private sector interest and something that can kickstart the renovation into high gear.”
This new proposal has also received a warm welcome from two politically powerful groups — the city’s major builders and its major constructions trade unions, headed by Carlo Scissura and Gary LaBarbera.
The plan shares a several major features with the current one. It would keep Madison Square Garden above the Penn Station, but clads the base in glass.
The designs show that the Hulu Theater, which is owned by MSG, would be demolished to make way for a grand new entrance to the station on the Eight Avenue side, across the street from Moynihan Train Hall.
Illustrations also show the designers also aim to build a new entrance into the complex between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the space that was once occupied by a cab stand and now sits largely unused. The new design appears to be scaled back from the one initially proposed by the MTA.
This proposal does not currently include the MTA’s planned underground walkway that would finally link Penn Station directly to the nearby Herald Square subway station, which a major hub for the N/Q/R/W and B/D/F/M lines, a spokesman confirmed.
The biggest change proposed by Foye and the Italians, however, appears to be nixing the MTA’s current plans to overhaul and expand the usually crowded entrances to Penn Station from the Seventh Avenue side.
That change left MTA officials leery, though they said they were still awaiting a full briefing from ASTM.
“We look forward to a full briefing on these concepts,” said MTA spokesman John McCarthy. “However, we remain concerned that the proposal, as described so far, lacks key elements of the Master Plan agreed to by Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and MTA.”