A private development firm, ATSM North America, said on Wednesday that their competing vision for the remaking of Manhattan’s Penn Station would be significantly cheaper than a proposal backed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Its unveiling occurred days after Governor Kathy Hochul signaled that the state was ready to move forward with a renovation.
The ASTM proposal would involve buying and demolishing the Theater at MSG to create two light-filled train halls: an entrance on Eighth Avenue and an atrium in the middle of the block where trucks currently offload equipment. The renovation would provide better and quicker access to all 21 tracks and allow for additional track capacity in all eventual upgrades. Construction could be completed in six years and would be approximately $1 billion less in cost than the MTA’s plan.
ASTM would put up $1 billion to get the renovation going and then use state and federal funding to cover the balance. The firm would then manage and operate the station for half a century, while Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and the MTA would pay a total of about $250 million a year for the privilege of using the station. Madison Square Garden Entertainment, which is run by the billionaire James Dolan, would also pay to renovate the distinctive drum of the Garden.
“Recognizing that the decision on which plan goes forward is not ours to make, we look forward to collaborating with all key stakeholders on improving Penn Station,” an MSG Entertainment spokesperson said in a statement.
MTA chief Janno Lieber said in April that ATSM’s plan was wasteful, in part because it involved paying the owners of Madison Square Garden, which sits atop the station, a large and rather generous fee to demolish a portion of the complex. ASTM North America’s Senior Vice President Peter Cipriano said they’ve had a “totally collaborative, productive relationship” with the Garden, Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and said they’ve had conversations with the governor’s office, but made clear their tensions with the MTA, saying they’ve “elected not to” see ASTM’s proposal.
Hochul said she was “open-minded about all of the possible scenarios” for the fate of Penn, which appeared to create an opening for ASTM’s idea. She made the announcement standing next to Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president who has effectively endorsed the ASTM plan, and Anthony Coscia, the Amtrak chairman, whose railroad is open to it.
