In his annual State of the State address on January 3, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reaffirmed his commitment to a large-scale renovation of Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Station, the busiest rail hub in North America with 650,000 passengers daily. Calling the current underground facility the “seven levels of catacombs” (“nine circles of hell” would have been more accurate), Cuomo implied the state could use eminent domain to take control of Madison Square Garden (MSG) and other nearby buildings, replacing them with a new terminal that would recapture the glory of McKim, Mead & White’s original 1910 masterpiece.
Some changes at Penn Station are already under way: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is finally carrying out the long-planned renovation of the Beaux-Arts James Farley Post Office, a landmarked building across the street behind the Garden, converting it into a train hall to ease congestion underground. Still, preservation groups, including Rebuild Penn Station, cheered the governor for what seemed to be an even grander vision.
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