Refurbishing and expanding Penn Station by 2020?

If all goes well, by 2020 Long Island Rail Road commuters and Amtrak passengers will have a new, nearly $1.6 billion Penn Station, which will expand into the nearby James A. Farley Post Office, at Eighth Avenue and 34th Street in Manhattan. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans for the project at a Sept. 27 news conference.

“I think it’s a great idea. It’s about time,” LIRR customer and Hewlett resident, Dina Dadush, said at the Hewlett train station on her way into work last week. 

Three companies –– Related Companies, Vornado Realty LP and Skanska AB –– have been selected to redevelop the post office and create a new 255,000-square-foot Moynihan Train Hall, which will house LIRR ticketing and waiting areas as well as 112,000 square feet of retail space. Security, officials emphasized, will be state-of-the-art.

The new Penn Station will be 50 percent larger than the current one, and the new LIRR space will be wider, higher and brighter. Additionally, a new concourse will connect the station to Moynihan Train Hall, spanning all LIRR tracks along Eighth Avenue. Nine tracks and 17 platforms will be accessible from the Train Hall.

“I think it would be nicer to have something new, but I don’t think its necessary, not at whatever cost they’re going to do it at,” Josh Gormley, of Woodmere, said. 

Empire State Development, the state’s economic development agency, will put $570 million into the project, and $425 million will come from the LIRR, Amtrak, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the federal government. The MTA would be responsible for $220 million in renovations to the subways and the LIRR. Work on the majority of the subway stations should be completed by 2018, with the remainder finished by 2020. Another $30 million is being spent to rebuild 30 subway stations and providing Wi-Fi and cell phone service at more than 140 underground subway stations and USB connections on subways and buses.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will also redesign both LIRR-connected subway stations, the A,C,E and 1,2,3 at 34th Street. The project has been the subject of several delays because of earlier design flaws. Now, however, state officials insist that they are ready to move ahead with construction.

In fact, the project’s first phase, the creation of a concourse west of Eighth Avenue, is nearing completion. The concourse will provide direct access to LIRR and Amtrak tracks and will connect the Moynihan Train Hall to Penn Station underground via 33rd Street.

Richard Lehman, of Woodmere, who has been commuting to and from the city for 30 years, said the new Penn Station would be “worth it in the end, but it seems like, especially lately, there’s no coordination in the city with construction.” Lehman added that “it’s time” to update the city’s infrastructure. 

Related Companies, Vornado and Skanska have guaranteed the completion of Penn Station’s redevelopment on time, and as part of the agreement, they will pay the state a total of $600 million for the right to develop the Farley building, which will include shops and offices from which they will derive rental income. 

Woodmere resident, Jack Yurkiewicz, who has been commuting for at least 20 years, said, “It’s about time they did something to it. It’s the premiere location for trains coming into New York from all areas.”