Calling for a massive overhaul of Penn Station, one of New York's most reviled public spaces, was easy for Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Now come the questions.
On Wednesday, Cuomo proposed a $3 billion transformation of the station – a long-stalled undertaking – prompting glee from commuters, transit advocates, architectural diehards and others who have long equated the ugly, cramped station underneath Madison Square Garden with last-second track assignments, mad scrambles and scores of homeless people.
Eager to ditch the Penn Station name, Cuomo called the new undertaking the Empire Station Complex. It would link the existing station with the old James A. Farley Post Office across Eighth Avenue to create a transportation hub featuring natural light, increased train capacity and far less congestion.
The station serves Amtrak, NJTransit and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Long Island Rail Road unit and six New York City Transit subway lines.
Under what Cuomo called a public-private partnership – and what looms as more of a real-estate development play than a pure P3 given retail as the revenue engine – private investment would fund nearly all the cost in exchange for an interest in the long-term revenue stream generated by the retail and commercial rents.
Several design alternatives are on the table, including major exterior renovations involving 33rd street, 7th avenue, 8th avenue, and the possible razing of the Madison Square Garden Theater, which dates to its Felt Forum days when the new Garden and replacement Penn Station opened in 1968.
The governor set an ambitious timetable, calling for the state and Amtrak, which own Farley and Penn Station, respectively, to issue solicitations to developers this week.
Responses are due in 90 days, making it too much of a rush job given public-private partnership complexities, according to Jonathan Peters, a finance professor at the College of Staten Island and a research fellow at the University Transportation Research Center at City College of New York.
"Ninety days is a little tight for me," said Peters. "There are lots of moving parts."
By contrast, the RFP process for the LaGuardia Airport reconstruction, also in New York, and Interstate 70 in the Denver region were roughly nine months.
As options are several, so are the cost and revenue variables.
Other skeptics cite the short time frame for market preparation, the land-locked nature of the area, historic-designation restrictions at Farley and whether Cuomo can fully fund the project with retail development, even high-end.
The construction cost would include $2 billion to redevelop Farley and Penn and at least $1 billion for ancillary retail and commercial developments between Seventh and Ninth avenues. Cuomo said $325 million of this will come from government sources, including the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Amtrak.
Peters said P3 deals require strong representation for the public side at the bargaining table.
"It's difficult for the public sector in these PPP deals because of the skill level of these negotiators," he said. "The private sector likes to cry a lot. They'll say they need better terms or conditions. This is a long-term thing and the emphasis is on getting the details right.
"This is not the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. These are skilled negotiators who know value. It's hard to reopen these details once you seal things."
Peters also worries about any additional bond load on transit agencies.
"Given the state of finances at the MTA, I'd hate to see them with extra bonding," he said of one of the largest municipal issuers with $36 billion in debt.
Cuomo's announcement was the latest in a whirlwind week of infrastructure initiatives. The previous day he called for a third set of tracks on the Long Island Rail Road main line and a study of a tunnel to link Long Island with Westchester County, N.Y., or Connecticut.
"I think Penn Station is the least worst of Cuomo's proposals because it actually has some details about how to fund this undertaking," said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
"The tunnel under Long Island Sound is a terrible idea because he has no clue about how to pay it. The third track for LIRR has a good idea but again, he has no way of paying for it. At least with Penn Station, there's a rational plan that may work or may not work but at least you can follow it.
"A lot is up to the private sector and there's uncertainty about what they will build."
On Thursday morning, Cuomo announced a $1 billion plan to enlarge the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Manhattan's West Side by 1.2 million square feet,. Cuomo said the center would pay for the project within existing resources.
Other projects the governor has touted include a massive renovation of LaGuardia Airport and a reconstruction of the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River between Westchester and Rockland counties. New York State is also partnering with New Jersey and the federal government on a new rail tunnel connecting the two states.
Cuomo expects to further spell out his transportation agenda at next week's State of the State speech.
Anthony Figliola, vice president of Empire Government Strategies in Uniondale, N.Y., praised Cuomo for making the aggressive move to break a logjam over what to do with the parcel. Cuomo's father, Mario, pushed for a Moynihan Station as governor in the 1980s at the Farley site and in honor of the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a U.S. senator from New York and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
"As the governor, you're the punching bag but you're the leader, too," said Figliola. "Cuomo puts out bold ideas and he has stood up to the NIMBYs," he said, citing the common acronym for "Not in My Backyard" opposition to development.
"Detractors will say it costs too much and people will have other questions, but it's time people stopped applying Band-Aids to problems and Penn Station is a great example. It's time people stopped saying 'we can't.' It's the power of the voice.
"As a commuter who uses Penn Station, I was very happy."
