The state and the city have re-entered negotiations with Vornado Realty Trust and The Related Cos. over the sale of 1 million square feet of air rights associated with the new Moynihan Station, said Tim Gilchrist, the new president of the Moynihan Station Development Corp. in a recent interview with Crain's.
Tim Gilchrist, the new president of the Moynihan Station Development Corporation, has told crainsny.com in an interview with Jeremy Smerd that the state and the city have re-entered negotiations with Vornado Realty Trust and The Related Cos., over the sale of 1 million square feet of air rights associated with the new Moynihan Station that has been proposed to be created within the former James Farley Post Office Building on the west side of Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets across from Madison Square Garden.
The developers, the article said, had "entered into a memorandum of understanding with the state in 2006 to develop the Farley Post Office into a new train station and to use the air rights to build an adjacent mixed-use development topped by a 67-story tower. But the plan, including $110 million from the sale of the air rights, was never approved by the Public Authorities Control Board."
The recession, however, "forced the state to split the development into two phases," article continued, adding that "Eventually, federal stimulus funding provided the final $83 million needed to build the $267 million first phase, which entails linking the Farley building to expanded Penn Station platforms to give passengers another exit. The initial construction contracts were approved Monday, and now attention is turning to funding the $1 billion second phase."
"If an air-rights agreement with the two developers is reached, the 1 million-square-foot 'Penn West' could begin rising before construction on the station's first phase is completed in the next three to four years," the article maintained, adding that "Time is ticking: The agreement that gives Related and Vornado exclusive development rights expires in 2012."
Vornado is also pushing, at the same time, to get approval from the City Council for its plan to demolish the Hotel Pennsylvania on the Seventh Avenue side of the Penn Station complex and replace it with a major new office building almost as tall as the iconic Empire State Building nearby.
The council's land use committee has a meeting Monday on the Vornado plan for the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania, which was designed by McKim Mead & White, the firm that designed the famed demolished Penn Station.
Tim Gilchrist, the new president of the Moynihan Station Development Corporation, has told crainsny.com in an interview with Jeremy Smerd that the state and the city have re-entered negotiations with Vornado Realty Trust and The Related Cos., over the sale of 1 million square feet of air rights associated with the new Moynihan Station that has been proposed to be created within the former James Farley Post Office Building on the west side of Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets across from Madison Square Garden.
The developers, the article said, had "entered into a memorandum of understanding with the state in 2006 to develop the Farley Post Office into a new train station and to use the air rights to build an adjacent mixed-use development topped by a 67-story tower. But the plan, including $110 million from the sale of the air rights, was never approved by the Public Authorities Control Board."
The recession, however, "forced the state to split the development into two phases," article continued, adding that "Eventually, federal stimulus funding provided the final $83 million needed to build the $267 million first phase, which entails linking the Farley building to expanded Penn Station platforms to give passengers another exit. The initial construction contracts were approved Monday, and now attention is turning to funding the $1 billion second phase."
"If an air-rights agreement with the two developers is reached, the 1 million-square-foot 'Penn West' could begin rising before construction on the station's first phase is completed in the next three to four years," the article maintained, adding that "Time is ticking: The agreement that gives Related and Vornado exclusive development rights expires in 2012."
Vornado is also pushing, at the same time, to get approval from the City Council for its plan to demolish the Hotel Pennsylvania on the Seventh Avenue side of the Penn Station complex and replace it with a major new office building almost as tall as the iconic Empire State Building nearby.
The council's land use committee has a meeting Monday on the Vornado plan for the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania, which was designed by McKim Mead & White, the firm that designed the famed demolished Penn Station.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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