Midtown Leaders Slam Cuomo's Empire Station Complex

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Neighborhood leaders in Midtown are speaking out against Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to redevelop the area around Penn Station, blasting the proposal for promising nearly 10 new skyscrapers without including any improvements to the beleaguered rail hub.

In a joint statement Monday, two nearby community boards condemned the so-called Empire Station Complex for having "nothing to do with Penn Station or infrastructure."

"Rather, it is a real estate development packaged as a 'transportation' project," wrote Lowell Kern and Layla Law-Gisiko, chair and zoning committee chair of Community Boards 4 and 5, respectively.

Their criticism came days after seven Manhattan politicians penned a similar letter to the governor, saying the state had left key questions unanswered and failed to respond to neighborhood concerns about the multibillion-dollar project.

First announced in January 2020, Cuomo said the project would increase Penn Station's capacity by up to 40 percent. But a detailed plan released in December shows that the Empire Station Complex includes no such expansion, which the state plans to advance separately.

Instead, the Empire Station Complex entails opening up eight lots to development around Penn Station, making way for 10 buildings — including five skyscrapers towering more than 1,000 feet.

"We cannot have a plan for the area around Penn Station and not have clear understanding, let alone agreement, on what happens to Penn Station," wrote the elected officials, including U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and three state legislators.

Allegations of a real estate giveaway

Opponents of the plan have zeroed in on a provision naming Vornado Realty as the skyscrapers' developer.

The company's CEO has donated significant sums to Cuomo's campaigns, the New York Post reported last week, prompting one advocate to call the towers "a sweetheart deal for Vornado."

The state has claimed the skyscrapers would generate revenue to help fund improvements Penn Station and nearby subway stations, but the elected officials said the plan includes no specifics.

All eight development sites sit within a two-block radius of Penn Station and the new adjoining Moynihan Train Hall. They would force the demolition of the Hotel Pennsylvania, St. John the Baptist Church and Touro College, among other buildigns.

Along with the separately promised Penn Station expansion, the development fits into Cuomo's ambitious plan to transform Midtown West by replacing Port Authority Bus Terminal, extending the High Line, and opening a new park on Pier 76, among other projects.

The state has also fast-tracked the plan by avoiding the city's time-consuming ULURP process, instead convening a panel with no power to stop it, the Post reported.

The elected officials on asked the governor to slow the project down and do more to engage neighbors, while the community boards asked the state to "hit pause" on the proposal entirely, and strip a $1.3 billion earmark from the upcoming state budget that would help fund it.

The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Empire State Development, the state agency in charge of the project, said the agency had held 50 meetings with community groups since the project was first announced, and planned to continue outreach.

"Feedback from those meetings is directly informing the plan as it moves forward," spokesperson Matthew Gorton said. "At the community's request, a calendared hearing was postponed from March to May to provide the community with additional time to review the draft plans."