Penn Station redevelopment isn’t dead yet, Gov. Hochul says
March 9, 2023, 6:49 p.m.
On WNYC, the Democratic governor declined to give up on the Penn Station project, even though Vornado has paused its involvement.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul isn’t willing to say the $7 billion renovation of Penn Station is dead, even though a key state senator says it’s “dead three different ways.”
On WNYC’s All Things Considered on Thursday, host Sean Carlson asked the Democratic governor about the future of the Penn Station redevelopment, which has been dealt repeated blows in recent months by real-estate giant Vornado’s decision to pull back on a series of planned office towers in the surrounding area — buildings that were supposed to pay for much of the massive transit project.
Hochul said any “declaration of death for the Penn Station” project is “premature,” vowing to pursue an “alternative plan” to make sure it moves forward.
“I’m committed to getting that done,” Hochul said. “I will shift gears and find other ways to make sure this happens. It is not contingent on what Vornado was planning in the entire neighborhood.”
The Penn Station project has been years in the making and was first championed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Under the original plan, Vornado was set to build 10 high-rise towers in the areas surrounding Penn Station in exchange for more than $1 billion in tax breaks. The developer would then make payments in lieu of taxes to help fund the Penn redevelopment.
But since then, interest rates have increased and the COVID pandemic reshaped demand for office space, leading Vornado to suggest it would pause its plans first in November and again last month. That led state Sen. Leroy Comrie, a Queens Democrat who chairs the Senate committee overseeing the MTA, to declare the project “dead and moot” last week, calling it a “ridiculous plan which we already know is dead three different ways.”
Hochul gave no indication of what her “alternate plan” to fund the Penn Station project would entail. She’s currently in the midst of state budget negotiations with lawmakers, with a final spending plan due before April 1.
“My plan is simply to give New York commuters an experience that is not equated to a living hell, OK?” Hochul said on WNYC. “They deserve to have a beautiful, light-filled, uplifting experience when they arrive at Penn Station — our commuters, our residents and our visitors.”
Meanwhile, Hochul also continued to tout her proposed housing plan, which she claims would create 800,000 new units over the next decade.
The bulk of Hochul’s plan is centered on requiring each city, town and village to meet certain goals — a 3% increase in the housing stock over the next three years for communities in the MTA service area, and 1% elsewhere. If a community doesn’t hit the mark, the state could step in and approve residential development projects, which has many suburban town supervisors crying foul.
Hochul said she’s not concerned about the political blowback from her plan, which has stirred up significant criticism on Long Island — where she recently lost both counties in her successful 2022 election bid.
“I’ve heard all the threats,” she said. “I knew this was not going to be easy. If it was easy, someone would have done it long before.”
Already, Republican officials in suburban counties — including Rockland County Executive Ed Day — have threatened to sue to stop Hochul’s plan if lawmakers approve it, arguing that it would unconstitutionally usurp local control. But Hochul said she’s confident her plan “will meet legal muster.”
“We crafted it in a way that gives flexibility to communities, and we’re just telling them to meet certain growth targets any way that they choose to,” she said.