Final design for NYC Penn Stations redevelopment one step closer including how much it could cost

Marking a milestone toward building a new Penn Station, Amtrak and Penn Transformation Partners have signed a pre-development agreement – a legally binding contract that paves the way to a final design and detailed budget for the $7 billion-to-$8 billion project.The pre-development phase will run through 2027, during which time Amtrak and the development partners will conduct “robust” community engagement before the final plan is completed, they said.Amtrak owns Penn Station.Its role in transforming the station is led by special advisor Andy (“Train Daddy”) Byford, who won accolades for his term as head of New York City Transit from 2018-2020. PTP is a joint venture led by Halmar, a New York-based heavy construction firm that’s part of an Italian conglomerate, and Swedish-based construction and development giant Skanksa.Amtrak and PTP are advancing a top-to-bottom transformation of the widely hated terminal, the busiest in the US with more than 600,000 weekday rail and subway riders.

PTP, headed by CEO Peter Cipriano, was chosen by the US Department of Transportation last month.Cipriano said, “Now, we will move forward as quickly and efficiently as possible to advance the design, establish a clear path to construction, and ensure the station reflects the needs of riders and the community.“Thanks to our strong partnership with the Trump Administration, US Department of Transportation, and Amtrak, we are moving this once-in-a-generation project from vision to reality,” he said.Unlike other proposals submitted to the DOT,  the plan doesn’t call for Madison Square Garden, which stands atop the terminal, to be moved.The new configuration devised by architect Vishaan Chakrabarti essentially situates the Garden as a circle within the square of the new terminal.Penn Station’s main entrance will be moved to Eighth Avenue behind a grand, colonnaded facade.

The upper half of the Garden’s unattractive, round  “drum”  will be reclad with ...