by Juliette Michaelson, Senior Planner, RPA
While the news of Governor Spitzer being caught hiring a prostitute is washing away discussion of most else right now, there has been other news in recently - some of which highlights just how much responsibility rests on the governor's shoulders.
After several reports in the past week about a possible break-down of political and economic will, the sense is Moynihan Station is on the brink of being added to the infamous list of "greatest projects never built."
Not so.
The project has been declared dead many times before - most recently in October 2006 - yet it keeps coming back. Why? Because it's a great project. Here New York has the opportunity to build a modern, state-of-the-art train station on the site of the existing "pit" of Penn Station; breathe new life into the historic Farley Post Office building by creating a new train hall in its old mail-sorting room; construct a terrific new Madison Square Garden; and revitalize an entire Moynihan District with 8 million square feet of new retail and office space. Most of all, we have an opportunity build a great train hall for the users of the nation's busiest rail station.
The reason the project has been close to falling apart so many times before is that it is an incredibly complicated deal, with dozens of parties involved and an ever-changing real estate market. Empire State Development Corporation, a state entity, is the lead agency on the project. All of the region's transit agencies - MTA, NJ TRANSIT, Amtrak - are involved, as is the Port Authority. The City of New York will be responsible for shepherding the project through ULURP and making sure the air rights are exercised in appropriate locations. The Post Office operates, and will continue to operate, in the Farley building. The Joint Venture of Related and Vornado, along with Madison Square Garden, also have to be satisfied that the deal is in their financial interest. And overarching all of these particular parties' interests is the clock: as it ticks, construction costs rise and the real estate market becomes increasingly skittish, at least for the foreseeable future.
Lining up everyone's interests in a timely fashion will be something short of a miracle, but it is possible. And it is certainly too early to throw in the towel. A lot of progress has been made in the last year of negotiations, and the issues that remain to be resolved are contained and manageable. The main ones are:
#1 Design and Preservation of the Farley Building.
Some changes to the historic fabric of the Farley building will be necessary to accommodate the new train hall and the arena. The roofline of the arena, for example, will necessarily be about 30 feet higher than the existing roofline. The Garden, however, is also seeking other changes to the building that are purely a matter of choice. Most notably, they are requesting that the west wall of the future train hall - now brick - be turned into a large glass wall so the Garden may be seen from the train hall itself. Preservation advocates point out that this is a historic wall, designed by Charles McKim one hundred years ago. (Sidenote: McKim's son-in-law, Charles Dyer Norton, founded RPA; his grandson "Kim" Norton was RPA's president for thirty years.) In addition, there is great concern that with three brick walls and one glass wall, all of the focus in the train hall would be directed toward the Garden, thereby taking away the sense that the train hall is primarily a public space, and not a forecourt to the Garden. Finally, replacing the brick wall with glass would be an expensive addition to the cost of the station, and would preclude the project from qualifying for preservation tax credits. What's the solution? The State needs to step in and support a great train hall design that preserves the integrity of the public space. The idea of a great public train hall is, after all, is the foundation upon which the project has been built.
#2 Location of New Retail and Office Development.
As an incentive for building a train station, the developers will be rewarded with the right to build 8 million square feet of office, retail and hotel space. These air rights must be exercised within an area determined by the City, which for now is defined as approximately from 29th to 35th Streets and from Fifth to Eighth Avenues. The complication is that there are few large parcels of underdeveloped land within this area, and the community is justifiably sensitive to the impacts that massive new towers will have on neighborhood quality of life and character. Here, it's the City's turn to step in. They need to be actively working with Community Boards 4 and 5, preservation experts and the Venture to come up with a development plan that is acceptable to all.
#3 Funding.
The cost of the entire station is officially estimated to be about $3.2 billion: $2.3 billion for Moynihan East (currently Penn Station), and $900 million for Moynihan West (the historic Farley building). Funding for the Farley building was secured by Senator Moynihan years ago. As for Moynihan East, out of the $2.3 billion price tag, the developers have committed $550 million. The State has committed $300 million, which he is willing to increase if the City will match his contribution. It is reasonable to expect that the federal government will be able to contribute somewhere between $500 and $800 million. Whatever funding gap is left will have to be filled with larger contributions from the developers, the City and the State. This gap is not insurmountable. Here, an exercise is joint statesmanship is required: the City ought to direct some of the Hudson Yards PILOT funding to Moynihan Station and the State should consider contributing a significant share of the proceeds from the sale of the land originally intended for a Javits expansion, to the project. They should also be pushing the Venture for a larger contribution.
Moynihan Station faces some real issues, but they are by no means insurmountable. Last week's scare persuaded Governor Spitzer to become, in his own words, "personally dedicated to making it happen." He has since met with the developers and the owners of the Garden; he is in active negotiation with Mayor Bloomberg, and laying out a strategy for federal funding. Spitzer's potential misdeeds only bring into relief how important his office is. It would be a double tragedy if any of this essential public business, such as the construction of Moynihan Station, was slowed or stopped by the current scandal.
While the news of Governor Spitzer being caught hiring a prostitute is washing away discussion of most else right now, there has been other news in recently - some of which highlights just how much responsibility rests on the governor's shoulders.
After several reports in the past week about a possible break-down of political and economic will, the sense is Moynihan Station is on the brink of being added to the infamous list of "greatest projects never built."
Not so.
The project has been declared dead many times before - most recently in October 2006 - yet it keeps coming back. Why? Because it's a great project. Here New York has the opportunity to build a modern, state-of-the-art train station on the site of the existing "pit" of Penn Station; breathe new life into the historic Farley Post Office building by creating a new train hall in its old mail-sorting room; construct a terrific new Madison Square Garden; and revitalize an entire Moynihan District with 8 million square feet of new retail and office space. Most of all, we have an opportunity build a great train hall for the users of the nation's busiest rail station.
The reason the project has been close to falling apart so many times before is that it is an incredibly complicated deal, with dozens of parties involved and an ever-changing real estate market. Empire State Development Corporation, a state entity, is the lead agency on the project. All of the region's transit agencies - MTA, NJ TRANSIT, Amtrak - are involved, as is the Port Authority. The City of New York will be responsible for shepherding the project through ULURP and making sure the air rights are exercised in appropriate locations. The Post Office operates, and will continue to operate, in the Farley building. The Joint Venture of Related and Vornado, along with Madison Square Garden, also have to be satisfied that the deal is in their financial interest. And overarching all of these particular parties' interests is the clock: as it ticks, construction costs rise and the real estate market becomes increasingly skittish, at least for the foreseeable future.
Lining up everyone's interests in a timely fashion will be something short of a miracle, but it is possible. And it is certainly too early to throw in the towel. A lot of progress has been made in the last year of negotiations, and the issues that remain to be resolved are contained and manageable. The main ones are:
#1 Design and Preservation of the Farley Building.
Some changes to the historic fabric of the Farley building will be necessary to accommodate the new train hall and the arena. The roofline of the arena, for example, will necessarily be about 30 feet higher than the existing roofline. The Garden, however, is also seeking other changes to the building that are purely a matter of choice. Most notably, they are requesting that the west wall of the future train hall - now brick - be turned into a large glass wall so the Garden may be seen from the train hall itself. Preservation advocates point out that this is a historic wall, designed by Charles McKim one hundred years ago. (Sidenote: McKim's son-in-law, Charles Dyer Norton, founded RPA; his grandson "Kim" Norton was RPA's president for thirty years.) In addition, there is great concern that with three brick walls and one glass wall, all of the focus in the train hall would be directed toward the Garden, thereby taking away the sense that the train hall is primarily a public space, and not a forecourt to the Garden. Finally, replacing the brick wall with glass would be an expensive addition to the cost of the station, and would preclude the project from qualifying for preservation tax credits. What's the solution? The State needs to step in and support a great train hall design that preserves the integrity of the public space. The idea of a great public train hall is, after all, is the foundation upon which the project has been built.
#2 Location of New Retail and Office Development.
As an incentive for building a train station, the developers will be rewarded with the right to build 8 million square feet of office, retail and hotel space. These air rights must be exercised within an area determined by the City, which for now is defined as approximately from 29th to 35th Streets and from Fifth to Eighth Avenues. The complication is that there are few large parcels of underdeveloped land within this area, and the community is justifiably sensitive to the impacts that massive new towers will have on neighborhood quality of life and character. Here, it's the City's turn to step in. They need to be actively working with Community Boards 4 and 5, preservation experts and the Venture to come up with a development plan that is acceptable to all.
#3 Funding.
The cost of the entire station is officially estimated to be about $3.2 billion: $2.3 billion for Moynihan East (currently Penn Station), and $900 million for Moynihan West (the historic Farley building). Funding for the Farley building was secured by Senator Moynihan years ago. As for Moynihan East, out of the $2.3 billion price tag, the developers have committed $550 million. The State has committed $300 million, which he is willing to increase if the City will match his contribution. It is reasonable to expect that the federal government will be able to contribute somewhere between $500 and $800 million. Whatever funding gap is left will have to be filled with larger contributions from the developers, the City and the State. This gap is not insurmountable. Here, an exercise is joint statesmanship is required: the City ought to direct some of the Hudson Yards PILOT funding to Moynihan Station and the State should consider contributing a significant share of the proceeds from the sale of the land originally intended for a Javits expansion, to the project. They should also be pushing the Venture for a larger contribution.
Moynihan Station faces some real issues, but they are by no means insurmountable. Last week's scare persuaded Governor Spitzer to become, in his own words, "personally dedicated to making it happen." He has since met with the developers and the owners of the Garden; he is in active negotiation with Mayor Bloomberg, and laying out a strategy for federal funding. Spitzer's potential misdeeds only bring into relief how important his office is. It would be a double tragedy if any of this essential public business, such as the construction of Moynihan Station, was slowed or stopped by the current scandal.
@RegionalPlan
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