A rendering of Moynihan Station
The first phase of the delayed Moynihan Station project is slated to begin later this year, Reuters reported. The upcoming project will expand Pennsylvania Station’s access to underground passenger platforms and is projected to cost $270 million. [more]
Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust, the developers of a long-planned expansion of Pennsylvania Station into neighboring James A. Farley Post Office, have told government officials that they’re struggling to make the terms of their five-year-old deal work, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to a timetable laid out last year, final terms of their financial agreement are to be solidified with the state by the end of this year.
In 2006, the developers agreed to pay more than $310 million for rights to develop retail in the rear of the building, but now they’re seeing that the building needs to be more mixed-use, the Journal said.
In recent months, they’ve approached the City University of New York to see if it might be interested in a small campus in the back of the building as part of a land swap plan with the Tribeca-based Borough of Manhattan Community College, but CUNY officials did not bite. [more]
Borders will likely close 51 locations, including those at JFK airport and Penn Station, by June 22 to avoid defaulting on its bankruptcy loan, Crain’s reported. Borders hasn’t been able to negotiate extensions from landlords at those locations on deadlines to assume or reject the leases. Borders’ creditors, led by GE Capital, said they would not allow the bookstore chain to assume the leases itself. In the meantime, Borders will seek permission to sell furniture and equipment from those stores through a liquidator, while asking lenders to grant a grace period until July 21, when Borders goes to court to potentially close on the sale of the entire business. [more]
A proposed $13.5 billion Amtrak tunnel that would link New Jersey commuter trains to a new, expanded Penn Station would involve razing the entire Midtown block between 30th and 31st streets, and Seventh and Eighth avenues, DNAinfo reported. According to plans released by New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg (see them after the jump), the so-called Gateway Project calls for building a new “Penn South” station in place of the existing buildings in its footprint, currently home to restaurants, businesses and churches that were taken by surprise upon hearing of their potential demolition. [more]
The Long Island Rail Road is looking to revamp its Penn Station space, according to the Wall Street Journal. LIRR officials would like to improve the space by adding better signage and more natural light to facilitate passenger flow. “It’s a facility that’s showing its age,” said Helena Williams, LIRR president. “It’s cluttered visually, functionally.” The railroad plans to solicit designers early next year to study the problems at Penn Station and come up with proposals for fixing them, which should take less than a year, Williams said. [more]
With the first phase of the $267 million Moynihan Station project set to begin this month, developers Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust are turning their attention toward retail and hotel tenants, in an effort to round out the six-floor rail station project, according to Crain’s. A 200-room boutique hotel could call the eastern half of the building home, according to a Moynihan Station Development spokesperson, while the western portion of the building — now known as the James A. Farley Post Office — will contain retail shops. Big-box stores are expected to occupy the upper floors of the building, while smaller retailers may move in on the lower levels. If the boutique hotel works out, however, it could face some stiff competition — last month, a South Carolina-based hotelier OTO Development announced that it purchased a Penn Station-adjacent parcel of land for $21.9 million, where it plans to build a hotel of its own. [Crain's]
Vornado Realty Trust has great aspirations for Herald Square, including a number of pedestrian improvements to Penn Station such as more subway entrances, and a reopened and revamped pedestrian tunnel. But Vornado, which owns a massive amount of retail and office space in the neighborhood, is seeking variances to its Hotel Pennsylvania site in exchange, according to the Post’s Steve Cuozzo. While Vornado could, technically, replace the Hotel Pennsylvania, which it bought in 1997, as a 1.15-million-square-foot tower without public approval, the developer has grander plans for the space, hoping to build a tower of around 2.05 million square feet. This would require a zoning change and an air rights acquisition.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have signed on as the architecture firm for the Moynihan Station, a project that would transform the James A. Farley Post Office, which sits adjacent to Penn Station, into a main railway hub. Although the official contract signing occurred today, Skidmore has long been involved with the project, taking a key role in the station’s evolving design since the 1990s, with the firm’s David Childs designing an early version of the station 10 years ago. The project, which received $83.3 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act last month, is set to begin this year, with the architecture contract signing marking a major move forward in the plans. [Crain's]
Once thought of as a transit hub for travelers moving in and out of Penn Station, a strip of Seventh Avenue is slowly gaining retailer clout. Brokers say the stretch of retail from 29th to 34th streets is improving because of shifting real estate values, large development projects on the horizon and the influence of one property owner: Vornado Realty Trust. In the last few months, the quality of retailers in the area appears to have shifted. Fresh & Co., an upscale — primarily lunch — eatery, opened several months ago at the corner of 30th Street and Seventh Avenue. Pret A Manger, meanwhile, has plywood up on the corner of West 29th Street. And, within a couple of months after Supermac macaroni and cheese joint’s closing last November, a new vegan sit-down restaurant opened in the location on Seventh Avenue between 29th and 30th streets. And, as these high-end eateries crop up, some retail experts say that the neighborhood is turning a corner. [more]
Tourneau, the high-end purveyor of watches, is ditching its long-time Penn Station digs. After more than 40 years at the corner of 34th Street and Seventh Avenue, Tourneau representatives said it’s ducking out due to a dispute over lease renewal terms with the landlord, Vornado Realty Trust, although Vornado declined to comment. While Tourneau said its looking for another space in the city, it has yet to decide where. Tourneau currently has a lease at at 510 Madison Avenue, where it’s trying to get out of its contract. [more]
