Penn Station renewal plan targets better light penetration, visitor flow, accessibility

A proposal aims to revitalize Pennsylvania Station (Penn Station) in New York City, targeting improved natural light orientation, visitor flow, and accessibility.

The plan, valued at an estimated $6 billion, carries a cost lower than previous proposals and can be delivered quicker. The plan would transform the Penn Station block, both above ground and below. Managed as a public-private partnership (P3) by global transportation development company, ASTM North America will also invest $1 billion into it. The design for the project comes from the firms, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) and HOK. If New York state and its partners give the project approval, it can be delivered within six years.

The project team—which also includes HNTB, Lendlease, Severud, Halmar International, and ME Engineers—engaged in a months-long process with local officials, community leaders, and key stakeholders, on the overall project vision of an efficient, realistic, and cost-effective solution to reimagining Penn Station. ASTM worked with the collaborating design architects to develop a design for Penn Station that builds upon New York state’s existing plans for a new light-filled and airy midblock train hall between 31^st and 33^rd streets and improves subway passenger connectivity from 7^th Avenue.

The proposed design keeps Madison Square Garden (MSG) in place, creating two main train halls accessed by a grand 8^th Avenue entrance, with 16.8-m (55-ft) high ceilings, a mid-block hall with 32-m (105-ft) high ceilings, and a series of windows and skylights that bring natural light to most Penn’s users.

A stone-clad exterior draws inspiration from the neoclassical, McKim, Mead & White-designed Moynihan Train Hall across 8^th Avenue. Open-air terraces and a new exterior plaza, along with improved interior circulation, and programmed spaces aim to prioritize the user experience, while enhancing the civic character and public realm of the surrounding neighborhood.

Unlike previous plans, ASTM’s proposal requires no development of the surrounding community to offset costs for station improvements. It does not require the relocation of MSG, which will be financially responsible for the recladding of its facade. It also improves street safety along the entire block, shifting truck loading for MSG off the street and within the building’s footprint.

The ASTM proposal will provide a single-level passenger concourse with further improvements to 7^th Avenue entrances at West 31^st and West 32^nd streets. The new and improved entrances will be fully accessible in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), with new elevators, escalators and stairs that connect the concourse directly to the street. The number of enhanced and increased stairways, escalators and elevators will increase from 91 elements to 120 elements, creating a 30 percent reduction in platform egress times, and enhancing platform accessibility for all 21 tracks. This improvement in platform vertical circulation will allow for a safer and easier passenger exit experience. As a result, improved egress from the platforms will help increase passenger throughput, accommodating higher capacity, and more frequent trains that result from the Gateway Program and other transit investments.

By incorporating the new entrance where the former Hulu Theater currently sits, the new design will allow 70 percent of passengers to exit from their train platform into a day-lit area. It will significantly improve commuter flow throughout the station with an increase in loading and unloading capacity at the platform-level. This inclusive and sustainable dual train hall design will help Penn Station accommodate market and demographic changes.

The $6 billion price tag fully considers all aspects included in the proposal—from property, acquisition, construction, financing, to the long-term relationship between all stakeholders on site, including Amtrak, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), NJ Transit, and MSG.

“PAU is honored to be collaborating with HOK and ASTM to develop the civic design vision for Penn Station, an endeavor that will provide travelers and New Yorkers alike with a greatly enhanced commuter experience in our post-pandemic world,” says PAU founder and creative director, Vishaan Chakrabarti. “Our proposal envisions two main train halls—a soaring Eighth Avenue entrance and a light-filled mid-block hall—that together will restore the civic gravitas that has been absent since the 1963 demolition of McKim, Mead & White’s original edifice. Our new stone facade mirrors and reinterprets McKim’s masonry colonnade across 8^th Avenue at Moynihan Station—creating a great public outdoor room that brings the historical in conversation with the contemporary, all while prioritizing light and air, an improved public realm, a great mix of civic uses, and compatibility with planned rail, and neighborhood growth.”