A group of Midtown politicians is backing a new plan for high-rise housing around Penn Station, urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to finally ditch the stalled megaproject that would rely on office towers built by Vornado Realty Trust.
The proposal by Assemblyman Tony Simone would scrap the existing plan — which would allow for 10 skyscrapers almost entirely limited to commercial use — and replace it with a mixed-use complex consisting of about one-third apartments and two-thirds offices. The proposal has support from Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, City Councilman Erik Bottcher and state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and some support from neighboring landlords because, unlike the existing plan, it would not use eminent domain to seize private property.
It would, however, still rely on a general project plan, a development tool that allows the state to override local zoning laws in order to build. Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo first proposed allowing Vornado to erect office towers in the area and using the tax revenue generated by the project to fund a rehabilitation of Penn Station. His successor, Hochul, “decoupled” the station improvements from the plan in 2023, but there has been little action on either front since then.
“The current GPP that was created to fund a new Penn Station is outdated. It was created in a pre-Covid world,” Simone, who represents Manhattan’s West Side in the state Assembly, said during a press conference outside the rail hub Thursday. “We don’t need that — we need housing first.”
Simone’s framework, which is not finalized, calls for expanding the general project plan from eight to nine sites but turning the lot of the now-demolished Hotel Pennsylvania into a public park rather than the skyscraper envisioned by Vornado. The new complex would span 13.9 million gross square feet, compared with 18.3 million under the old plan, with room for about 5,000 housing units, compared with 1,800 in the existing plan.
Hochul, who has near-unilateral power to reopen the general project plan at any time, is “open to” the new proposal, Simone said. The revisions may be less palatable to Vornado, which has pursued a neighborhood-reshaping megaproject for years and has insisted its office-oriented initiative remains alive.
Simone said he is discussing the proposal with Vornado and suggested it would be in the developer’s interest to “have a thriving community around the office buildings they want to build, which there’s no market for right now.” A Vornado spokesman declined to comment.
Matthew Gorton, a spokesman for Empire State Development — the state entity spearheading the project — said in a statement that “Gov. Hochul remains committed to her vision for a new and improved Penn Station, anchored by hundreds of new homes, seamless access to transit, and major improvements to the surrounding streets and sidewalks.
“The governor will continue to work with all stakeholders to deliver a station worthy of New York while advancing her bold plan for swift action to address the state’s housing shortage,” Gorton added.
Other neighborhood landlords would be a factor as well. Simone’s proposal calls for expanding the general project plan to cover the half-block west of Broadway between 33rd and 34th streets, partly owned by Empire State Realty Trust. Supporters say they have been in talks with the trust and other owners.
The housing-oriented proposal won early praise from leaders of Manhattan Community Boards 4 and 5. It also has support from residents of “Block 780” — the much-discussed city block immediately south of Madison Square Garden, which stands to be razed under the existing general project plan but would be left intact under Simone’s plan. (Amtrak has long insisted that expanding Penn Station would require taking over that block, but transit advocates who favor an alternate scheme disagree.)
Labor unions could also influence the outcome. Gary LaBarbera, the construction-union boss who leads the Building and Construction Trades Council, signaled support for the new plan — saying in a statement that it would provide much-needed housing and “also create thousands of family-sustaining union careers for hardworking New Yorkers, thanks to the requirement of a project labor agreement.”
Some recent policy changes have fueled hopes that more housing could be added to the Penn area. Last year’s state budget included a provision, first reported by Crain’s, that allows future general project plans to build bigger apartment buildings by exceeding a cap on residential density.
