(rshsdepot) New Penn Station, NY

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

New Penn Hub Stalls
Station project 4 yrs. behind schedule

By PETE DONOHUE and ERIC HERMAN
Daily News Staff Writers

Four years after a deal was struck to turn the city's main post office into
a bigger and better Penn Station, construction has yet to be begin - meaning
jam-packed commuters won't get relief until at least 2007.

In 1999, a year after the agreement was announced, state development agency
chief Charles Gargano said reconstruction of the landmark James A. Farley
Post Office into a transportation hub and shopping mall would begin in 2000
and be completed by 2003.

The news thrilled commuters who endure the subterranean station's packed
platforms and New Yorkers still mourning the destruction of storied
Pennsylvania Station - a twin to the Farley building - nearly four decades
ago.

But drawn-out negotiations between the state and U.S. Postal Service have
left the project four years behind schedule.

In December, Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corp., said
construction would begin this spring. Now it is unlikely to start before
November and won't be finished until at least 2007, according to the
Dallas-based developer, Staubach Co. "It's just a terribly frustrating
project," said Robert Yaro, director of the Regional Plan Association, a
transportation policy group.

As the months tick by, the city is losing out on the significant economic
boost the project is expected to bring - 7,600 jobs and more than $65
million in tax revenue during construction. Once built, the new
transportation hub is expected to create about 1,600 permanent jobs.

Deal Affected by Attacks

The Postal Service tried to back out of the deal soon after Sept. 11, saying
it needed the building because its Church St. station near the World Trade
Center was damaged.

Negotiations resumed after Gov. Pataki and then-mayoral candidate Michael
Bloomberg urged President Bush to get involved.

But with several layers of government involved, and the Postal Service and
Amtrak fighting for cash, the $788 million deal has gotten bogged down in
details, notably how to convert a 1.4 million-square-foot post office into a
bustling transportation center without interrupting train or mail service.

A Bold Design

"I'm holding my breath," said David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill,
the project's highly regarded architect. "But ... I've been holding it for
almost a year now."

Pushed by former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), the plan calls for
Amtrak operations to move from the current Penn Station under Madison Square
Garden across the street to the postal building. That would open space in
the old building for NJTransit and the Long Island Rail Road.

A small post office would remain where the customer area currently is, on
the Eighth Ave. side, between 31st and 33rd Sts. The Postal Service would at
least temporarily keep its mail-processing center on the western end of the
building.

The plan calls for the state development agency, through its Pennsylvania
Station Redevelopment Corp. subsidiary, to buy the building for about $140
million. The Postal Service is negotiating to remain there for at least 13
years after the sale - probably longer.

The new Penn Station will feature a bold design, with a futuristic glass and
metal roof curving over a main entrance and an expansive ticket hall. There
will be about 100,000 square feet of retail, commercial and
conference-center space and a 180-foot-tall multimedia wall to display train
information, as well as flight schedules.

Despite the on-again, off-again interest of the Postal Service in the
project, Vice President Rudy Umscheid insisted the deal is on track.

"This isn't buying a house," he said. "The discussions continue in a very
positive vein. It's a question of formalizing that into an agreement that
deals with a lot of complicated issues."

Moynihan, who was appointed this month by Mayor Bloomberg as his
representative to the Penn Station redevelopment agency, pledged to keep the
project from derailing.

"We're right on the edge," Moynihan said. "Negotiations with the post office
seem to be very close to closing."

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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