NEW YORK | Empire Station District | 9 Towers (18-20 msf)| FT | FLOORS

[NYguy]

Was admiring the new entrance area around 2 Penn earlier, and the MSG entrance is great. It's what stands out. From that side, it would be hard to believe the actual crap that is the arena building. Dolan needs to do better.

Back to Gateway, the new Portal Bridge is making steady progress. A sign and a reminder that the new tunnel is on the way, and better days are ahead for Penn.

This video is already a couple of weeks old, but I always forget to post them.



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[NYguy]

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[NYguy]

https://www.amny.com/transit/penn-st...e-residential/

Penn Station task force starts push to make transit hub more residential





By Max Parrott
March 12, 2024

A Penn Station task force helmed by Manhattan’s Community Board 5 outlined its long-term goal of increasing housing in the station’s surrounding area and making it more of a neighborhood in coordination with the state’s transit redevelopment plan.

The Community Led Improvement Plan (CLIP) task force held its first committee meeting on March 8 that brought together a range of city and state transit and city planning agencies to discuss the community group’s goals of creating more of a mixed-use neighborhood around the transit hub.

“The Penn CLIP process offers us a new path to generate a range of housing options with a focus on affordability that will accommodate our district’s fair share of the population growth,” said David Sigman, a community board member.

But major questions remain about the Penn Station redevelopment process. The federal government is currently conducting an NEPA review of multiple operating models for the tracks underneath the station that an Amtrak representative said would last another two years. The task force sees the interim time period as an opportunity to develop a concrete set of suggestions for when the plan is ready to move forward.

What is clear is that the community board hopes to get the state to reconsider the neighborhood plan it proposed for the transit hub district. In January, CB5 passed a resolution opposing the land use proposal that the state has advanced, arguing that the plan needs to do more to prioritize more housing.

For help, CLIP brought on an urban designer consultant named Shachi Pandey, whose specialty lies in eliciting planning ideas from neighbors and daily commuters and translating them into policy suggestions.

In Pandey’s presentation, she likened an ideal mixed-use zoning makeup for the future of the Penn Station area to that of Downtown Brooklyn, which has “several distinctly identifiable neighborhoods” that provide amenities of the people who live there.

When Elizabeth Goldstein, the president of the Municipal Arts Society, asked if the task force was hoping for a plan that would create about 25% mix of residential buildings, as is the case in Downtown Brooklyn, CB5 chair Layla Law-Gisiko said the goal was not to be prescriptive.

“The idea is to really explore how stronger, more robust housing components can be incorporated. And also what do we mean when we say housing?” she said.

Sam Turvey, the co-coordinator of the Empire Station Coalition that is opposed to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Penn Station plans, urged railroads to share any analysis that the railroads have on whether through-running tracks are possible, so that the task force can get a better sense of what kind of operations are possible and base its plan on that.

Petra Messick, an Amtrak program manager, said that the railroad won’t be able to start launching any plans until after the federal review concludes but “we agree we can engage prior to NEDA and we can start figuring stuff out,” she said.

The housing that these clowns say they want is coming, but no doubt they'll be against this too.
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=255735

[NYguy]

This is BIG news. Manhattan's Community Board 5 has long been at the center of many of the developments in Midtown that have had to gain approval. As such, we have become somewhat familiar with some of the board and some of the more outspoken members.


https://www.crainsnewyork.com/politi...oardroom-brawl

Manhattan's Community Board 5 leadership steps aside after boardroom brawl


AARON ELSTEIN
March 15, 2024

Community Board 5 has undergone a major shake-up in what appears to be a coordinated effort to loosen land-use rules within several community boards citywide.

Community Board 5 represents the interests of Midtown neighborhoods and has a seat at the table when city or state policymakers tackle big matters, such as the future of Penn Station or the rezoning of East Midtown.

Chair Vikki Barbero resigned last month after 15 years in the role and 30 years on the board. On Thursday night her successor, Nick Athanail, quit effective immediately. Also gone is Layla Law-Gisiko, chair of the powerful land use committee, who had served on the board since 2005.

The new chairman is Samir Lavingia, a former Google and Twitter software engineer and CB5 member for two years. He was elected Thursday night with 22 votes in favor and 19 abstentions.

Lavingia is campaign coordinator at Open New York, a nonprofit funded by Open Philanthropy, which is backed by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. Open New York has an interest in housing development and a desire “to reduce the harms caused by excessively restrictive local land use regulations,” according to its website.

Community boards don’t write laws or draft regulations, but developers planning a new apartment building or office tower seek their approval because their recommendations sway elected officials. The boards also serve as farm systems for residents aiming to run for public office one day. Members are volunteers nominated by the City Council and approved by the borough president for two-year terms.

Manhattan’s Community Board 5 is especially influential because its district stretches between Madison Square Garden and Grand Central Terminal, from 14th to 59th streets.

Had no idea there was such a revolution on the boards. Maybe that's why the CB4 meeting from last week was so out of order. We'll see what these new people are up to.

[Busy Bee]

Yeah, this could be seismic.

[TowerDude]

Originally Posted by NYguy

This is BIG news. Manhattan's Community Board 5 has long been at the center of many of the developments in Midtown that have had to gain approval. As such, we have become somewhat familiar with some of the board and some of the more outspoken members.


https://www.crainsnewyork.com/politi...oardroom-brawl

Manhattan's Community Board 5 leadership steps aside after boardroom brawl


AARON ELSTEIN
March 15, 2024










Had no idea there was such a revolution on the boards. Maybe that's why the CB4 meeting from last week was so out of order. We'll see what these new people are up to.

Anyone what that amount of abstentions should not be a le to serve.

[Busy Bee]

^ head injury?

[mrnyc]

up to a decade is a good max length to serve.
after that make way for new blood.
entrenched membership is never good.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

up to a decade is a good max length to serve.
after that make way for new blood.
entrenched membership is never good.

There was a proposal a couple of years ago to limit the time to four years. I don’t know what happened to that. I know some BPs were against it.

Still, we have to keep an eye on ALL of these people on the boards. People usually come to the boards with an anti-development agenda. They’re saying people are joining the boards with an agenda for more housing. Which is really what the city needs. Just as long as it’s in the right places.

Layla, who’s from France, and was very outspoken against the Penn Plan, even ran for office a couple of years ago.

[NYguy]

Meanwhile, more Gateway progress, as the new Portal Bridge continues construction....



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One of the new entrances to MSG at 2 Penn....