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West Side to Grow Around Old Garden?
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A story posted Friday in The Real Deal raises a series of questions about the future of Moynihan Station if MSG cannot be brought back to the negotiating table:
Insiders familiar with the negotiating process told The Real Deal that these public officials, who recently demanded that the Garden would have to accommodate Moynihan Station, are now shifting tack, suggesting that the train hub and the planned office development around it could move forward with the Garden in place…Because the city must rezone the area once the station's plans are hashed out, the developers could still find ways to create office space in the area, possibly by promoting the idea of a continuous office district between Moynihan Station and nearby Hudson Yards, where Tishman Speyer plans to build about 8 million square feet of office space.
What does moving forward on the train hub with the Garden in place mean? Is the writer referring to building the Farley station or improvements to the existing Penn Station?
One can reasonably assume that a monumental, spacious, and well-designed train hall – a primary public benefit of the project – will not be possible underneath a renovated Madison Square Garden.
If the Garden renovates in place and the Moynihan East station is abandoned where is the public benefit? How will the developers get the rights to develop “a continuous office district”? And what will happen to our tax dollars?
Read “West Side to Grow Around Old Garden,” by Alec Appelbaum in The Real Deal
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Moynihan station
With all due respect to the late great Senator Moynihan, I haven't read any compelling reason to move Penn Station and Madison Square Garden one block west. A simple redesign in-situ would save billions and the Garden management has already agreed to spend the money on its own property. Why shoudl the taxpayers subsidize such a move just so another vertical mall can be added to the Herald Square area? At a time of fiscal austerity, we need to separate the nice-to-have form the must-have. Moynihan station is a nice-to-have, the Second Avenue subway is a must-have, since that system is already overcrowded and will only grow more so as the LIRR gets a connection to Grand Central in a few years. The west side will grow just fine if the number 7 line is extended too; we don't need another shopping mall.