Farley-Penn Station

$1 Billion Project Will Create World's Largest Transportation Hub

by Natalie Keith

The state is anticipating completing the sale of the James A. Farley Post Office and issuing a request for proposals this fall for the $1 billion Farley-Penn Station project, which is seen as vital to the transformation of the Far West Side.

"Building a new Penn Station at the Farley building is a once-in-a-100-year opportunity," said Charles Gargano, Empire State Development Corp. chairman and CEO. "Ninety percent of the financing is in place and we've given $10 million to the post office as sign of our intent to move forward."

The project will expand the James A. Farley Post Office building and link it to the current Penn Station across the street. It includes a potential of 800,000 sq. ft. of retail/commercial space, 250,000 sq. ft. of postal related services, 300,000 sq. ft. of rail transportation improvements and 1 million sq. ft. of air rights.

The revamped station is expected to open by 2008. It will be the world's largest transportation hub.

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Earlier this year the Empire State Development Corp., which is overseeing the project, selected a consulting team lead by architecture, engineering and consulting firm HDR to provide development advisory services for the project. In addition to HDR, key project team members include Washington Square Partners and Economic Research Associates, both of New York, N.Y.

The project team will assist the ESDC in reviewing work completed to date, analyzing markets, identifying and evaluating finally feasible development options, exploring alternative financing scenarios and selecting a developer.

"The station project is the single most important urban transportation project in the nation," Gargano said. "Not only does it provide a tremendous transportation infrastructure improvement, it presents a world of economic development to Manhattan's West Side."

The project was formally launched in May 1999 but was delayed due to budgetary constraints. In October 2002, the state struck an agreement with the U.S. Postal Service to purchase the Farley building for $230 million.

The state had originally selected Penn Station Ventures, a joint venture of The Staubach Co., in Addison, Texas, and Fraport AG, in Frankfurt, Germany, as the developer of the project but decided to issue another request for proposals and select another developer when the scope of the project changed.

"We've invited (Penn Station Ventures) to participate in the RFP," said Gargano.

The Farley building is bounded by 31st Street on the south, 33rd Street on the north, Eighth Avenue on the east and Ninth Avenue on the west. Under the project plan, the layout of the redesigned eastern half of the Farley building will be similar to that of the original Pennsylvania Station with a sky-lit train concourse, a spacious intermodal ticketing hall and a convenient commuter concourse.

The new station will provide two midblock entrances on 31st and 33rd streets. Passengers will use these entrances to access the intermodal hall, to be located in the former alley between the east and west buildings. The commuter concourse will be two levels below the intermodal hall and be significantly upgraded to facilitate better access to the Eighth Avenue subway station and existing Penn Station.

Penn Station is the country's busiest passenger transportation facility, handling more than 500,000 people daily - more than John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports combined. The station is already overcrowded, with ridership expected to grow 25 percent in the short term and 50 percent in the long term.

The project will help alleviate overcrowding by creating an adjoining transportation facility at the Farley building, located across Eighth Avenue from the existing Pennsylvania Station and above existing platforms and tracks. About 400,000 sq. ft. of the building will be converted into a new hub for Amtrak, Long Island Railroad, New Jersey Transit and subway riders.

Plans also call for a glass semidome 160 ft. high to create a dramatic entrance to the building, gateway airport access facilities for passengers going to Kennedy and Newark airports, improvements to the Eighth Avenue subway and restoring the historic postal lobby.

The project is expected to create 6,096 jobs and over $34 million in increased state and city taxes. Its completion is expected to create 834 new jobs and over $15.8 million in annual income and sales tax revenue.

"This project is the cornerstone for turning the West Side into a vibrant destination for people to work, shop and play," Gargano said.

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