The City Planning Commission voted unanimously yesterday to approve zoning changes to permit Vornado Realty to erect a major skyscraper on the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania on the east side of Seventh Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets.

Planning Commission Chair Amanda Burden said the property, directly across from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, is an "ideal location for high density development," according to an article by Jill Colvin at dnainfo.com, adding that "at nearly 80,000 square feet, the site offers an opportunity for precisely the type of well-designed...office building that New York City needs to stay globally competitive."

The commission's vote was attacked by several commenters at wirednewyork.com.

Antinimby, for example, wrote, correctly, that Ms. Burden recently "chopped off the Tower Verre's shapley top/spire because...[she said it would not compliment the Empire State Building even though it is miles away uptown. Meanwhile, you're condoning this tower which will not only be much closer to the ESB and have a relatively flat, unspectacular top but will also totally obliterate the view of the ESB from the West."

In April, Community Board 5 voted 36 to 1 against Vornado's plan to redevelop the 22-story Hotel Pennsylvnia site with a 1,190-foot-high office tower designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, who designed 1 Beacon Court on Lexington Avenue for Vornado.

In late 2007, Merrill Lynch selected Vornado and its site for a new world headquarters but an article at observer.com by Eliot Brown noted that "just days later, preoccupied with $7.9 billion in write-downs, Merrill's board held off on voting on the headquarters plan."

According to the article, Vornado told the commission that if it does not get the approvals needed for the project, it would proceed with an "as-of-right" commercial tower of about 1.15 million square feet.

Vornado has been acquiring land in the vicinity of the old Pennsylvania Station for several years and had hoped to be able to use all of its unused air-rights to build at least one very major skyscraper on the existing site of Madison Square Garden, which it did not own. The owner of the garden, however, recently decided against selling and moving the area to the James A. Farley Post Office Building one block to the west.

The original Pennsylvania Station was designed by McKim Mead & White and was widely recognized as one of the city's greatest Beaux-Arts buildings. Its demolition in 1964 led to the belated creation of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The 1,700-room Hotel Pennsylvania was erected in 1919 directly across Seventh Avenue from the famous train station and was also designed by McKim Mead & White. At one time, the hotel said it was the world's largest.

The Hotel Pennsylvania is one of the last surviving examples of very large hotels in the city built to accommodate train travelers. It is across 33rd Street from a messy group of low-rise retail buildings.

The hotel's telephone number, Pennsylvania 6-5000 was famous as the name of a song by the Glenn Miller band.

The local community board previously had voted that to recommend that the hotel be designated an official city landmark but in February, 2008, however, a spokesman for the landmarks commission confirmed that the agency had decided not to hold a hearing on its possible designation.

The Vornado plan, which must still be approved by the City Council, also includes the reopening of an underground passageway under the south side of 33rd Street, which will connect the Sixth and Seventh Avenue subway lines as well as the PATH Trains so commuters no longer have to transfer outside.