Amtrak agrees to join makeover of post office as Moynihan Station
Written by jrood
Amtrak is back on board. After six months of negotiations with state and city officials, the railroad agreed to join the long-delayed makeover of Farley Post Office as Moynihan Station, according to the New York Daily News.
"This is a major
breakthrough," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who led the negotiations, said. Amtrak, which dropped out of the W.
33rd St. redevelopment several years ago, came back because it needs space to
expand and was promised a share of the project’s revenues, he said.
The project, conceived a
decade and a half ago by the late Sen. Daniel Moynihan,
will turn the post office into a railway terminal evoking the grandeur of the
old Penn Station, which was torn down in 1963.
"The building of
Moynihan Station will provide the grand entrance that this great city
deserves," Amtrak
President Joe Boardman said.
A prior plan that called
for the relocation of Madison Square Garden
and massive office tower construction is not part of the new deal.
Before work can get under
way, city, state and federal officials must decide who pays for what, Schumer
said. He’s pushing for stimulus funds to help bankroll the cost – projected
between $1.1 billion and $1.5 billion.
Mayor Bloomberg was
noncommittal yesterday about the city’s role in the project.
Still, Schumer said he
was unfazed.
"Everyone wants to
have the other guy put in more money," said Schumer. "It’s going to
be my job to get everyone at the table, and each person to live up to their
responsibilities."
