New $7.5B Penn Plan–This One Pushed by Trump Allies

The time has come to make Penn Station great again.

That not particularly subtle message to Donald J. Trump—who routinely boasts that he was a great New York dealmaker before becoming president—was sent to Washington by a high-powered advocacy group called the Grand Penn Community Alliance, a grassroots organization underwritten by Trump allies who strongly support a revival of classical architecture.

The message was accompanied by a detailed rebuilding plan that was dramatic for its architectural vision, but even more striking for its desire to make multi-billion-dollar deals with the two most important private businessmen in the neighborhood, James Dolan and Steve Roth.

Under the multi-billion-dollar plan, Dolan would be asked to move his Madison Square Garden across Seventh Avenue to property owned in part by Roth’s Vornado Realty Trust, the neighborhood’s largest landholder.

With the Garden gone, the plan would then build a large park on Eighth Avenue, above the station concourse, and a glass-and-steel train hall roughly where a derelict taxiway now runs along the eastern edge of the Garden.

The Grand Penn Alliance’s chief architect, Alexandros Washburn, who led the creation of the Moynihan Train Hall, said the project, including moving the Garden, could be completed for just over $7 billion, the same cost as renovating the station with the Garden on top, but with a far better result.

Moving the Garden had been a heated topic, which ultimately led to the City Council giving Dolan a mere five-year extension of his right to operate on the present site. But after that, Amtrak, which owns Penn Station, and the other railroads that use it, have avoided the question, developing plans for both improving and expanding the station with the Garden where it is.

“We believe that MSG can move,” said Washburn, “and that if MSG moves . . . we can create a unified station and be able to revive Penn Station to the level of greatness that it had before.”

The Alliance pointedly announced that it was submitting its proposal both to Governor Kathy Hochul and, in a departure from previous planning discussions around the station and its neighborhood, to the Trump administration’s Federal Railroad Administration, part of the Transportation Department.

The FRA is required to issue an environmental review and recently announced that it would join the planning process for the station.

At a news conference, Washburn displayed a roll of architectural drawings. “This is what we are sending down to the US Department of Transportation,” Washburn said.

He summed up the plan by saying it would be “a win, win, win deal” under which “Penn Station is great again.”

Repurposing Trump’s catchphrase did not appear to be an accident. Officials who worked on the plan noted that Trump knows both Dolan and Roth and prides himself as a dealmaker.

Trump’s Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, has agreed to meet to discuss the new plan, Washburn said.

“FRA looks forward to reviewing Penn Community Alliance’s proposal for New York Penn Station,” a spokesperson for the railroad administration said from Washington. “And we will continue to engage with all stakeholders as the effort to modernize and expand this historic rail station moves forward.”

The railroads have asked the FRA to exempt the renovation efforts from a major environmental review, so it could proceed quickly. It is unclear whether the FRA will grant that request, and in any case, Washburn argued against separating the renovation from the expansion discussion. He said that, ultimately, his plan would produce both a more attractive station and a safer one.

Washburn was an aide to Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who sent him back to New York to oversee the building of the new Amtrak train hall that now bears the senator’s name.

One goal of the new plan, Washburn said, was to give commuters on the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit a train hall as good as Amtrak riders have.

Another goal is to revive the classical architectural feel that was lost when the Pennsylvania Railroad, struggling to fend off bankruptcy, tore down its original station, built in 1910. The railroad sold the right to build from the street level up, which is how New York ended up with an arena and an office tower on top of a train station. Amtrak owns the station from ground level down.

To unravel all that “highlights the role of a dealmaker in this project,” Washburn said.

“One of the reasons why perhaps it’s been stuck to date [is] because you have to have someone in place who can make a deal with the private sector who can make a deal with the public sector.”

Is that person President Trump, Washburn was asked?

“The reality is the federal government owns this asset. It is a federal piece of property. MTA leases from them. MTA is a tenant. When it’s your asset, it’s in your interest to make the best use of it.”

The Grand Penn Alliance has 3,000 members, Washburn said. Its principal financial backing comes via two Trump allies who share a desire to revive classical architecture, a topic Trump has embraced in his slew of executive orders.

One is Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, who in Trump’s first term chaired the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts. He was removed by President Biden. The other is one of Shubow’s board members, Thomas D. Klingenstein, the hedge-fund manager, playwright, and philanthropist, who chairs the board of the conservative think tank The Claremont Institute. He was a major donor to Republican candidates and causes.

“We are fortunate to have these connections to the administration,” Washburn said.

Washburn’s proposal arrives at a moment of considerable debate around the future of Penn Station. Just last week, Assembly Member Tony Simone called on Governor Hochul to dramatically recast the state’s plan, drafted before COVID, for building 10 new office towers around Penn Station.

Simone called for a park where Washburn would put Madison Square Garden and he opposed the expansion of Penn Station to the south, which Washburn included. Nevertheless, he welcomed Washburn’s plan.

“Today’s proposal by the Grand Penn Community Alliance is impressive,” Simone said. “Similar to my new housing-first vision announced last week, we are aligned in the belief that New York can and should do big and bold things. The state should bring all stakeholders back to the table to see how we can best deliver for our community and all New Yorkers, who need a strong transit system and new affordable housing.”

Amtrak and New Jersey Transit have said they will need an expansion, possibly to the south, to accommodate the doubling of service that will be possible with the completion of two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River in the 2023s, the first since 1910.

The railroads have divided planning for an expansion, under the direction of Amtrak, from the separate, and sooner, efforts to improve the present station, which is under the direction of the MTA. Several groups have proffered plans for that improvement, including the private developer ASTM, which offered a widely praised plan for rebuilding the station with Madison Square Garden in place.

Governor Hochul had said she would take private submissions, like ASTM’s, but that has never happened. Recently the MTA appeared to retreat from more aggressive renovation ideas and has focused on improving heating and air conditioning, raising ceilings where possible and improving exits from the platforms. Janno Lieber, the MTA chair, said he was focused on “practical changes” that won’t take years.

Moving the Garden, building the park, and the new train hall would cost $7.5 billion, Washburn said. He said he was waiting for Amtrak to provide an estimate of the cost of a southern expansion, which Amtrak has said it has not yet decided on.

Residents of the block immediately south of the station have opposed the southern expansion and the demolition of their homes and businesses. Washburn’s plan would preserve the 153-year-old Roman Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist, but otherwise demolish and redevelop the block. The façade of the McKim Mead and White power station on the block, the last remaining remnant of the original Penn Station, would be incorporated into whatever office or other tower is built.

Amtrak said in a statement: “In collaboration with the Federal Railroad Administration and our railroad partners, Amtrak is committed to improving current conditions and increasing train capacity at New York Penn Station while respecting the history and vibrancy of the surrounding neighborhood. It is essential that options are evaluated on their ability to meet the transportation needs of the region, and their ability to enhance the Northeast Corridor’s critical role in powering the national and regional economy.”