New York's busiest train station to get $8 billion remodel with columns, sunlight and Trump's name
NEW YORK (AP) — When Manhattan's original Pennsylvania Station was demolished in 1963, it marked the undignified end to one of America’s great public works, a monolithic Beaux Arts train terminal with Roman-style columns and a spacious central waiting area that was at the time the city's largest indoor space.
In its place rose Madison Square Garden — home of NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers — while train commuters were forced underground into gloomy, claustrophobic, low-ceilinged corridors when the redesign was completed in 1968.
“Through Pennsylvania Station one entered the city like a god,” the architectural historian Vincent Scully famously lamented. “One scuttles in now like a rat.”
But a dramatic new vision for the busiest transit hub in the Western Hemisphere calls for a return to the original station's grandeur from 1910.
Renderings released Monday feature a rectangular stone facade lined with imposing columns along a grand entryway. Inside, a sunlight-drenched concourse boasts soaring ceilings more than 50 feet (15 meters) high in places. There are bronze finishes and other ornamental details, like a bas-relief of the city’s famous skyline and a large station clock.
Inside one entryway, an inside wall bears the seal and name of President Donald Trump, who had Amtrak assume control of the project last year after decades of political infighting among transit agencies and opposition to moving MSG from billionaire owner James Dolan.
Trump has floated renaming his hometown station in his honor as he’s sought to burnish his legacy through public works projects, from a massive new White House ballroom to a triumphal arch.
For now, though, the name etched across the proposed grand facade would still read “Pennsylvania Station,” according to the renderings. They were released by Amtrak, which owns the terminal, and Penn Transformation Partners, the design and development consortium picked for the project.
The proposed design draws from the ornate, Beaux-Arts design of Grand Central Terminal, the city’s other major rail hub, as well as Art Deco landmarks like the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center, according to lead design architect Vishaan Chakrabarti.
The vision, he said, is to restore Penn Station’s place among the pantheon of the city’s greatest landmarks.
“There was this fearless embrace of ornament and decoration that in some ways we’ve lost,” Chakrabarti said. “We want to bring some of that sense of craftsmanship back.”
The redesign is projected to cost roughly $8 billion, and construction is targeted to begin before the end of 2027, officials said Monday. Penn Station would remain in operation throughout as the project progresses in phases over about six years.
More than 600,000 commuters traverse the rail hub on any given workday, or more than the three major international airports that serve greater New York City — John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty — combined.
Plans floated over the decades have called for relocating MSG, but the plan is for the “World’s Most Famous Arena” to remain in place. A theater owned by MSG and built directly above the tracks, however, would have to be razed.
The developers and MSG's owner have reached an agreement on this critical point, but the final terms — including payment — are still being negotiated. That's according to Andy Byford, a former New York City subway chief who Amtrak named as a special adviser to oversee the redevelopment.
Transit advocates complain the process has been shrouded in secrecy.
“It’s really important that there be public input and involvement,” said Lisa Daglian, who heads a group that advises the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates New York’s subway and two commuter rail systems.
“We don’t need another megamall or monument and certainly not at the cost of billions in local revenue or by putting existing services at risk,” added Danny Pearlstein of the transit advocacy group Riders Alliance.
Byford said more details will be revealed in the months ahead, including a more detailed breakdown of costs, as the developers refine the preliminary designs and the project goes through the extensive federal environmental review process.
But he vowed no fare hikes to cover project costs and no plans for the government to condemn and take surrounding properties to expand the station, as some have suggested.
At Penn Station on Tuesday, John Schoen was among the regular riders who welcomed the prospect of a more inviting commute.
“The city needs new looks. This is old,” the 55-year-old Long Island resident said. “Let’s do it. Move forward.”
Others, though, wondered how construction might worsen their commutes. James Culhane, another Long Island rider, noted parts of the station received a significant face-lift in recent years that brought in new eateries, more natural light and other improvements.
“Things are operating as well as they can be,” said the 24-year-old opera stagehand. “Just use the money elsewhere.”
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