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The Farley Post Office building on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan is one step closer to becoming the new Daniel Patrick Moynihan Station, which will expand the capacity of the existing Pennsylvania Station across the street. The new station is slated for completion in 2010.
The Empire State Development Corp., the agency overseeing the project, recently selected the development team of Vornado Realty Trust and the Related Companies, both based in New York, to collaborate on the $818 million project, which will receive funding from the city, state, and federal governments, the U.S. Postal Service, and the developers.
A large portion of the 1913 post office building - which sits atop several existing train platforms for Penn Station as well as corridors connecting the railroads to city subway lines - will become part of the transit complex in the redesign. The project will increase capacity to serve more than 500,000 daily passengers who use Amtrak and commuter railways from Long Island and New Jersey by creating new or enlarged connecting corridors, new access routes and street entrances, and additional retail and dining options.
The project entails building out 300,000 sq. ft. in the existing post office building for the train station, with New Jersey Transit expected to be the largest tenant. The developers will also build another 850,000 sq. ft. for commercial space and will be able to transfer 1 million sq. ft. of air rights to build a future residential tower at One Penn West, a nearby parcel owned by Vornado.
The new design for the Farley building incorporates a rippled glass canopy that brings light down to the tracks, a feature that was in a preliminary 1999 design created by David Childs, an architect with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of New York, who remains on the project as a consultant.
More recently, New York-based Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum and James Carpenter Design Associates have been preparing a final design expected this fall for the Farley transformation. The development corporation expects to select other members of the design team, including a structural engineer, this month and to issue bonds for project financing by the end of the year.
The corporation also intends to preserve the façade, including the signature staircase and columns of the Farley building, which was designed by McKim, Mead & White. The Postal Service will continue to operate out of 250,000 sq. ft. in the building.
The station was named in honor of Moynihan, the late former U.S. senator from New York, in part because he secured early funding for the project.
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