Empire Station Complex

April 22, 2021

See what a renovated Penn Station could look like

A dark and cramped Penn Station could soon be replaced with a light-filled transit hub with more space for commuters. Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled on Wednesday two possible options for the reconstruction of the Midtown train station as part of his broader Empire Station Complex project, which would unify an upgraded Penn Station and the new Moynihan Train Hall. The interconnected station would increase train capacity at the site, which is considered the busiest in the country. It could serve 830,000 daily passengers by 2038, up from 600,000 the station served each day before the pandemic.
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February 19, 2021

Massive Empire Station Complex project that will revamp Penn Station area moves forward

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to build an interconnected public transportation hub and revitalize Penn Station took a major step forward this week. The Empire State Development's Board of Directors on Thursday adopted the General Project Plan (GPP) and certified the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Empire Station Complex project, which would link an upgraded Penn Station, the newly opened Moynihan Train Hall, and a tentative new terminal one block south of Penn Station. The board also set a public hearing on the project for March 23, followed by a 30-day public comment period.
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January 15, 2021

Cuomo reveals $51B plan to redevelop Midtown West, replace Port Authority

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday unveiled an ambitious plan to transform over 100 acres of Midtown West as part of a new "transit-oriented" development. The $51 billion proposal adds a new train hall south of Penn Station, replaces the Port Authority Bus Terminal, extends the High Line, and adds up to 1,400 units of new affordable housing. The project is one part of the governor's proposed $306 billion infrastructure plan, introduced on Thursday during his fourth 2021 State of the State address.
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March 26, 2018

New looks at Manhattan West and Empire Station developments show the future Midtown West

Imagine a future Midtown West with state-of-the-art retail and office towers, an abundance of open green space and an attractive, efficient transit station. While plans to bring all of that is in the works, it could be years away from becoming reality. As CityRealty learned, one of the neighborhood's busiest developers, Brookfield Properties, is giving us a preview of what the area will eventually look like, with new renderings for its expansive, six-building Manhattan West project. Plus, the developer also created a CGI video that provides a virtual tour of the Empire Station, the hall currently undergoing renovations at Penn Station.
Take a peek
December 12, 2016

Amtrak’s Hudson River tunnels project could bring 3 years of traffic jams

Back in January, Amtrak unveiled its $24B Gateway Program, a plan that would overhaul the Hudson River rail tunnels by building a brand new tunnel and repairing another that is currently in disrepair. Work under the plan would also encompass expanding Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan and replacing rail bridges in New Jersey. While details on the course of construction were previously thin, according to draft proposals obtained by Reuters, we now know that work on the new tunnel will begin in 2019, and the West Side Highway could be subject to three years of traffic jams as a result.
more details here
September 28, 2016

REVEALED: Governor Cuomo unveils plans for new Penn Station-Moynihan Train Hall complex

In a presentation (pdf) Tuesday at the Association for a Better New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that plans for transforming a revamped Penn Station-Moynihan Train Hall complex into a "world-class 21st century transportation hub" were back on track and ready to roll, complete with a slew of new renderings and the selection of a developer-builder team including the Related Companies, Vornado, and Skanska AB, to redevelop the Farley Building.
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January 21, 2016

Amtrak Estimates Penn Station and Hudson River Tunnel Projects Will Cost $24B

When Governor Cuomo announced his $3 billion revamp of Penn Station earlier this month, skeptics were quick to point out that all the glassy new structures and reconfiguration of waiting rooms won't do anything to help the fact that the Hudson River rail tunnels are crumbling. Clearly on the same page, Amtrak announced yesterday a detailed overview of the entire infrastructure project, and it comes in at a whopping $23.9 billion. According to the Times, "the largest share of about $7.7 billion [will go towards] building the new Hudson tunnel and repairing the existing tunnel. The project includes a host of other elements, including expanding Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan at an estimated cost of $5.9 billion, and replacing rail bridges in New Jersey."
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January 7, 2016

Renderings Revealed for Governor Cuomo’s $3B Penn Station Overhaul

6sqft asked readers yesterday if Governor Cuomo would finally be able to get the Penn Station overhaul off the ground, after various news outlets reported that he would be announcing a plan to do just this. The majority of you said it wasn't going to happen, but it looks like the long-envisioned project has just gotten one step closer to reality. During a press conference yesterday at Madison Square Garden, the Governor revealed that he'll be heading up a major revamp of Penn Station, which he called "un-New York," according to Gothamist. The more than $3 billion redevelopment has been dubbed the Empire Station Complex, and a request for proposals will go out this week, due back in 90 days (not good news for the decade-old deal with developers Related Cos. and Vornado Realty). As expected, it includes the long-stalled Moynihan Station project that will convert the adjacent Farley Post Office into a large waiting area, similar in size to the main room at Grand Central. This will increase the size of the nation's busiest transit hub by 50 percent and will connect to the current station by a network of underground tunnels. Though several options are on the table for a redesign, the renderings released by the Governor's office show a glassy and light structure that's quite unlike the current space that Cuomo described as "dark, constrained, ugly, a lost opportunity, a bleak warren of corridors… a miserable experience and a terrible first impression."
More details and renderings ahead