MTA awards $58 million for Penn Station redesign, construction to start in 2024

The MTA on Wednesday approved paying a private firm nearly $58 million to redesign Penn Station, with construction expected to start in 2024.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board at its monthly meeting awarded the $57.9 million contract to a joint venture led by FXCollaborative Architects LLP and WSP USA Inc.

The firm will provide “architectural and engineering design services” for the reconstruction of the 112-year-old station, which is primarily used by the Long Island Rail Road.

Representatives of the firm could not be reached for comment.

The contract could increase by as much as $152.7 million if the MTA — coordinating with Amtrak and NJ Transit — use the firm to design connections to other transit facilities near Penn, including subway stations at Seventh and Eighth avenues and at Herald Square.

MTA Construction and Development president Jamie Torres-Springer said the design effort is expected to take one year, allowing for construction on the project to begin in 2024.

The entire project is estimated to cost $8 billion and take five years to complete, Gov. Kathy Hochul has said.

“The transformation of Penn cannot come soon enough, and we look forward to building a world-class station that puts New Yorkers first, delivers a rider-focused transit experience, and a great neighborhood they deserve,” Hochul said in a statement Tuesday.

The design firm will follow a “master plan” for the redevelopment of Penn that includes eliminating much of the station’s upper level, currently used by Amtrak, to allow for tall ceilings and more open space on the lower level used by the LIRR.

MTA chairman Janno Lieber said the design will also include “major new entrances” along what is a now a taxiway between 31st and 33rd streets, the extension of existing entrances on Eighth Avenue, and “a ton of new” escalators and stairways connecting to station platforms.

The redesigned station will provide a “more humane experience” than exists now in the notoriously cramped station, Lieber said.

“The goal is to have a place that much easier for passengers to circulate, where they don’t have to stand by a boarding waiting for track assignments to come out and then stampede,” Lieber said.

Samuel Turvey, chairperson of RethinkNYC, a transportation and land use advocacy group that has opposed the project, said the awarding of a design contract was “very sad.” His group has pushed for relocating Madison Square Garden so that Penn could be restored to its original 1963 design.

“This plan and these selections are throwing good money towards very compromised, mediocre and retrograde ideas,” Turvey said. "We will continue to fight for a better result."

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.