What an awesome day for New York City: the U.S. Postal Service has reached a deal to sell the James Farley Building to the city, allowing the construction of a new Penn Station. The current train station is a disgrace, especially since the building of it (and Madison Square Garden) involved tearing down one of the greatest train stations ever. Since then, we’ve been left with an underground series of caverns and dark hallways that are always inhabited by a clinging, burning smell, and an arena above it all that (given the Knicks’ and Rangers’ performances) doesn’t seem to have been worth the loss of the old station.
The Farley Building was designed by the same architects — McKim, Mead, and White — that crafted the old Penn Station, as well as a ton of other buildings in and around New York City. (I admit a bit of a bias, too — they designed much of the campus of my alma mater.) From everything I’ve seen, the building will serve as a terrific replacement for what is now just an outright eyesore.
Hey, I didn’t know you were a Columbia alum! (CC ‘96 here). Just when I thought I couldn’t love Q any more than I already do… :-)
And thanks for the Penn Station news — that lifts the spirit, just like your recent post about the good ol’ 1/9.
• Posted by: LLM on Oct 8, 2002, 2:30 PMwhat are some of the arguments of tne new penn station. what are those who are against it say? what do those who are for say?
• Posted by: tracy on Dec 9, 2003, 2:15 PMI just wanted to say something. The only facilities moving from the current Penn Station will be Amtrak’s. NJT and LIRR facilities and operations will stay at the current station. I also think the Farley PO Penn Station project was cancelled because I e-mailed Amtrak for updates and they said they had no plans for a new station in the Big Apple. In my opinion the new project is unecessary. With the new NJT concourse the main waiting area is going to be a lot less congested. I’ve consistently heard of rumours that the Garden is going to be demolished because it’s too small and no longer economical. If they do this Amtrak can almost double the station size because they won’t have to worry about the structual supports of MSG. I’ve been through Pennsylvania Station tons of times and I’ve never smelt the “burning smell” nor have I ever had a problem with the crowdedness or the confusion. So nothing really is wrong with Penn Station, in the long run staying where they are will be even better because of LIRR’s proposal to relocate a large portion of its operation into Grand Central, which again will really ease up on the facility. The only bad thing about Penn Station is the fact there aren’t enough concession areas. Now that NJT has relocated to its own concourse and if MSG is demolished there will be a large amount of open space to put the new retail areas. If Amtrak moves to the PO all the money it’s spent on expansions, improvements, etc. will be lost. Just recently they put in new lighting and flooring, the ClubAcela, and new Departure boards- all that input will be lost in a short time. So again in my view the current Penn Station is not a bad station at all, and the plan to relocate is a waste.
• Posted by: Current NYP fan on May 21, 2004, 11:53 AM