A group of urban planners is suggesting that — in order to realize a new Penn Station — Madison Square Garden should move to a USPS mail-sorting Facility On Ninth Avenue.
The Alliance for a New Penn Station, a coalition of the Municipal Art Society and the Regional Plan Association, states in a new report that the Morgan Post Office and Annex “is both large enough to accommodate a new state-of-the-art arena and is a quick, three– to seven-minute walk from Penn Station,” according to Capital NY.
“Relocating the Garden to this site will provide the city with a new arena and allow for the reconstruction and expansion of Penn Station, each of which can be designed to vastly improve the conditions of the district,” the report states.
The Morgan Post Office and Annex between Ninth and Tenth avenues and between 28th and 30th streets, however, is still in use.
Madison Square Garden, which is owned by Jim Dolan, moved into its current location at Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd streets in 1963, on the site where the original Penn Station once stood. The arena is the home of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers.
Last year, MSG applied for a permit to stay in its current location in perpetuity, a clear sign that Dolan has no immediate interest in moving the Garden. The application was denied by the city. Instead, the arena got a 10-year renewal to operate from its current location. The Garden recently underwent a $1 billion renovation. [Capital NY] — Claire Moses