New York state ready to roll on Penn Station plan

Farley post office would serve as Amtrak waiting room

421 Eighth Avenue
421 Eighth Avenue

State officials are seeking a broker to help sell 1.5 million square feet of unused development rights as part of renewed plans to expand New York Penn Station into the James A. Farley post office building.

The request for proposals, posted last month on the website of the Empire State Development Corporation, indicates the state’s eagerness to proceed. The post office, at 421 Eighth Avenue, would serve as a waiting room for Amtrak passengers.

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Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust were previously attached to expansion effort.

In 2007, the state acquired the post office building, much of which is now unoccupied, the Wall Street Journal reported. Roughly $267 million in state funds for infrastructure improvements were approved three years later. That would include mostly underground rail work, but not the Amtrak hall. [WSJ]Mark Maurer