Madison Square Garden to be moved to expand Penn Station

The city is considering a proposal to move Madison Square Garden across the street from its current location at Penn Station. The station itself is to be replaced by a larger, more modern transit hub, according to Time-out.

Two years ago, Governor Kathy Hochul promised to speed up the renovation of Penn Station (she once called it a “hellhole”). But despite that promise, little progress has been made.

New project

Community Alliance is the interest group behind this proposal. Leader project Grand Penn Director Alexandros Washburn said the new train hall "could double the station's capacity to 48 trains per hour, while also providing a host of new safety and accessibility features, and permanently solving the station's cramped conditions."

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In addition to transportation improvements, the redeveloped destination will include a green zone the size of Bryant Park.

As for the redesigned arena, it will take the place of the former Hotel Pennsylvania, which was demolished in 2023.

Problems

As exciting as the proposal sounds, especially given Penn Station’s long history of troubles, it faces a host of hurdles. For starters, the entire project is expected to cost about $8 billion. The timeline? A daunting 11 years to complete.

Real estate issues, including disputes over land ownership, further complicate matters, as do the various companies involved in Madison Square Garden. For example, the group pushing the new design deliberately included Greco-Roman columns to comply with U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand that classical architecture be the standard for federal buildings.

And then there's Amtrak, the federal railroad company. It actually owns Penn Station.

Her approval, as well as that of New York and New Jersey (each of which controls trains passing through the station), will be crucial.
Any real solution is still far away.