Question via Facebook: What's up with Moynihan Station?

Recently, we were asked the following question on our Facebook page "With all the talk about President Obama's Economic Stimulus Package and its billions of dollars for public works projects, what's happening with the Moynihan Station project?"

MAS remains a strong supporter of Moynihan Station. The project will increase capacity at the over-crowded (and miserable) Penn Station, which is the nation’s busiest transportation hub, with nearly half a million people passing through it every day. We don’t know whether the project will receive money from President Obama’s stimulus package, but it certainly seems to be eligible.

Plans for Moynihan Station have been in the works for more than a decade. Senator Moynihan’s original conception was to convert the Farley General Post office, which sits over the same tracks as Penn Station, into a new train hall that would expand the capacity of Penn Station and create a great civic train station and dignified entry into New York. Several years ago the scope of the plans expanded dramatically, to build a new Madison Square Garden in the west end of the Post Office, demolish the current Garden and construct a retail complex with an upgraded Penn Station underneath. Last winter, Madison Square Garden announced it was pulling out of the project and instead renovating their arena.

With Madison Square Garden out, some thought the project would need to go back to the drawing board. In fact, the original Moynihan Station plans (left) have already gone through the environmental review process and have partial Congressional funding, so work could start in the Farley Post Office in the near future. Building Farley first ensures that the public will get a great civic space, without concern that the private development will impede on the public train station spaces.