Quote:
Originally Posted by Design-mind
Does this mean that the Penn Tower on the Hotel Pennsylvania site is dead?
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSsocal
It'l be a good question what role vornado plays in all of this. Since they own the vast majority of the site. The one PP block needs a serious rethinking though, the 2 single story retail stumps on either end are abysmal.
|
I'm pretty sure Vornado is involved with what's going on here, as the major land owner in the area. The problem is, sure Vornado can build, but to what extent. What Cuomo is proposing is
increasing the FAR in the area, possibly including the site of 15 Penn itself.
Keep in mind the City itself was also proposing and increase in development of the immediate area around MSG (remember Penn East and Penn West towers on either side of 1 Penn Plaza).
More importantly though, the City was proposing to give the site of 2 Penn Plaza an unlimited FAR (along with the "four corners" sites, in the early Hudson Yards rezoning process. But the city being what it is, those plans were objected to by the City Council who had say over such things. THIS is where the state comes in, the state could override objections of the council, which never really wants to get anything done unless it can promise its members support for whatever each wants in their own districts. So, in a sense, the city's hands are tied here in respect to how much development can be approved.
The one site in NYC that has the most transit
should not be hindered by limits on size, because if you can't build it there, where can you?
We'll see how Cuomo intends to move forward, but they are already talking going through the environmental and public review process. And you can be sure the freak show will be out in force against it. And all this does is add more time to the already overdue redevelopment of Penn Station. Nobody has the money to pay for these things, but when you come up with a solution to do something about it, they're all up in arms. They should have been this upset about Penn Station being allowed to rot in it's current state, constant overcrowding and delays, and overall ineptitude.