MIDTOWN — The 18-foot ceilings of the new Penn Station will be lined with LED lights painted to look like a blue sky with clouds to end the feeling of claustrophobia in the dank, outdated and "decrepit" transit hub, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.
Office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo
"It really gives you a sense of openness as opposed to being closed in," Cuomo said during a speech to the Association for a Better New York.
The redesigned Penn Station is part of a $1.6 billion plan to turn the James. A. Farley Post Office into the new Pennsylvania Station-Farley Complex and to stop the station from being the butt of jokes.
"It is dirty, it is dingy, it is dark and that is not what New York is all about. It is the equivalent of LaGuardia Airport which is now become a national laughingstock," said Cuomo.
Vice President Joseph Biden famously likened the airport to a "third world airport" in 2015.
"Penn Station is the train version of LaGuardia," Cuomo added.
Office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo
But with 650,000 passengers per day, the station is a key transportation hub. It has more than double the daily traffic than John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International airports combined and is at triple the capacity it was designed for.
The redesign will change that, said Cuomo. The width of the 33rd Street LIRR corridor, one of the busiest sections of the station, will be nearly tripled in width.
The two subway stations located at Penn Station, the A, C and E trains and 1, 2, and 3 lines will also be improved as part of a $50 million upgrade. The portion of Amtrak remaining in Penn Station will also be redesigned.
A contract should be awarded by the end of 2016 and many of the improvements should be completed by 2018.
At the same time, the Farley Post Office building will become Moynihan Train Hall and will house both the LIRR and Amtrak instead of just Amtrak alone. There will also be 112,000 square feet of retail, including a 70,000-square-foot balcony for retail and dining. There will also be 588,000 square feet of office space in the building.
Office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo
The new train hall will be be bigger than Grand Central Terminal (250,000 square feet), 10 stories high and 50 percent larger than the current space at Penn Station. Passengers will be able to access nine platforms and 17 tracks.
Related Companies, Vornado Realty, and Skanska have been chosen to build the project and will pay the state $600 million for the commercial and retail rights. Another $570 million will come from the Empire State Development Corporation with another $425 million from Amtrak, LIRR, the Port Authority and other government funding.
Earlier projections for the cost of redeveloping the post office and Penn Station came in at $2 billion.
The project should be completed by 2020, in spite of a history of delays, said Cuomo.
"I don’t announce plans with caveats. This is what is going to happen. We did the bid, we have a winner, we have the money, we have all the approvals, the legislature has acted," said Cuomo. "The train is leaving the station, pardon the pun."
Madison Square Garden will remain where it is, said Cuomo in response to a question from an audience member.
Former top Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco, who was recently charged by federal prosecutors with soliciting over $300,000 in bribes in return for state contracts, is an executive at Madison Square Garden.
READ MORE: Here's What We Know About the Corruption Probe Into Two Aides to Cuomo
"This has no effect on Madison Square Garden whatsoever," said Cuomo. "The Garden is going to stay right where it is."
Cuomo, who was not implicated in the recent federal corruption charges, did not take questions from a group of reporters attending the event.
Kathryn Wylde, President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City, praised the plan, saying that Cuomo "is accelerating our major transportation projects."
