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Read the press release here.

'Thrill Ride' at Penn Station Could Be City's Eiffel Tower, Developer Says

 A rendering of
A rendering of "The Halo" amusement ride.
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Brooklyn Capital Partners and AESuperlab

PENN STATION — Ticket sales for a “thrill ride” on top of Penn Station could finance a third of the transit hub’s planned $3 billion revamp — if a Brooklyn development firm gets its way.

“The Halo,” an amusement ride with 1,200-foot vertical drops, could be “New York’s high-tech version of the Eiffel Tower: a thrill ride taller than the Empire State Building, and an unforgettable icon on the skyline,” the project’s website says.

The ride could rise on the back of the Farley Post Office building, where Moynihan Station is being built, or on top of Madison Square Garden, the Daily News reported.

"We'd been trying to bring amusement rides into the city — we’d noticed it was a trend around the world,” said Brooklyn Capital Partners president Alexandros Washburn, who served as Chief Urban Designer of the city’s Department of City Planning from 2007 to 2014 and was the first president of the Penn Station Redevelopment Corporation.

 A rendering depicting the city's skyline after
A rendering depicting the city's skyline after "The Halo" is built
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Brooklyn Capital Partners and AESuperlab

“This was a structure that was light enough to be supported by the existing foundations,” he added.

Eleven 10-person gondolas would move vertically up and down the tower at varying speeds, the project’s website says.

Building the ride would cost approximately $637 million, but it could bring in $1 billion for Penn Station’s revamp, Washburn estimated.

He and his colleagues came up with the ride after they heard the Empire State Development Corporation put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a firm to redevelop the station.

The project could be integrated into the winning proposal, its website says.

“[The plan] puts Penn Station back on the map as a place that will captivate the world’s interest,” Washburn said.

“I think it’s going to change the tone to one of anticipation, excitement, the thrill of being in New York rather than the drudgery of being in Penn Station.”