A new Penn Station in an old post office

Real Estate Weekly, Nov 15, 2000 by Parke Chapman

Prior to 1965, Penn Station was a magnificent gateway to the city.

Pink granite columns, arcades of shops modeled after Roman baths, a 150-foot vaulted ceiling and a row of colossal Tuscan columns amidst a concourse of glass and wrought iron -- for many, this was their first impression of Manhattan.

The demolition of Penn Station in 1965 -- "the great act of vandalism in the history of the city," according to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan -- was a low point for preservation in this city. The only positive development that stemmed from it was the formation of the Landmarks Preservation Commission that year.

But 35 years after the granite columns were deep-sixed into Meadowlands sludge, a plan is afoot to bring back some of the grandeur, in a novel fashion.

The Farley Post Office, directly across the street from Madison Square Garden, will soon become a hybrid train station/post office. The building -- undoubtedly the most high-profile post office in the United States, open 24-7, 365 days a year, was originally built in 1914 (just four years after the original Penn Station). It will be reworked to include a new Penn Station with a wide range of retail possibilities.

"Our funding is in place and we are ready to go," says a spokeswoman from the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corporation (PSRC). They plan to award one of three competing developers the contract in January 2001. The idea, according to the PSRC, is to create a "new gateway" while "making sure that the new building is different than the [current] one."

Unlike the current Penn Station that is dominated by fast food joints and other low-end amenities, the new space will allow a variety of retailers to take advantage of the lucrative station in an arrangement similar to Grand Central Terminal.

"Retailers will flock to a place that has this kind of splendor, which the new station most certainly will," says Warren Wechsler, first senior vice president at the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY). "Just look at the retail in Grand Central. It is reasonable to guess that this development will mean a lot of more development inn the adjacent area."

The vice president of retail services the 34th Street Partnership is also optimistic about what the new station will offer the area.

"Our job at the 34th Street Partnership is to help improve business in the area," says Dan Pisark.

"This new station will become a destination in and of itself for retail activity. There are more than 100,000 office workers within walking distance of the Farley Post Office," says Pisark.

He also sees the new station as luring "those New Yorkers who have a love affair with the long lost Penn Station."

The project will be completed by 2004.

Penn Station handles more than 600,000 passengers a day and is the biggest tram station in North America. With capacity that high, the station is in dire need of such an upgrade.

"I've been commuting through Penn Station since 1981," said Joseph Hamm, a sales executive who works in midtown and lives on Long Island. "It isn't a pretty terminal. It could be designed more user-friendly." Though he admits that "it will be good for the city," Hamm worries about what will happen in the The new Penn Station, by day and by night interim, as the construction proceeds. Federal, state, city and private monies will finance the project whose dollar figure will run in the several hundred millions.

The president of the New York Buildings Congress sees it as a "marvelous intergovernmental compact."

"When I first heard of it, I thought it was pie-in-the-sky," says president Dick Anderson.

"It represents a vision of the new city and proves that all government levels can come together when there is a common vision," says Anderson.

He credits both Senator Moynihan and Governor Pataki for expediting the project.

Plans for a high-speed rail link (Amtrak's answer to the Bullet Train, the Acela) between Boston and New York will allow people to reach downtown Boston in three hours from Penn Station. Also, rail links from Penn Station to both Newark and JFK will be created. The mass transit environment here will clearly benefit from the new station.

"In terms of having a 21st century facility, Fariley will be just that," says Lee Sander, director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University.

"It will encourage people to take the rail to Boston and Washington. And it will also make taking the train competitive over driving the car," says Sander. "I think it is a great transportation project."

Sander believes that the project will have a "stimulative effect on this area" of the city while it will also "make it a better customer experience."

As for the project itself, renderings of it defy any label.

The architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) are responsible for the design; it has already won a project award [19991 from the American Institute of Architects.

"The post office here is the civic heart of the postal service in Manhattan, some would even argue the country," said Chris McCready, the project manager from SOM.