Mike Davis

@byMikeDavis

NEW YORK – When Penn Station opened in 1910, it was a destination.

Architect Charles McKim, tasked with designing the building, envisioned a fitting "entrance to one of the great metropolitan cities of the world." Photographs of McKim's design, inspired by the Gare d'Orsay in Paris, show rooms filled with natural light and grand staircases connecting terminals.

“Penn was a majestic building. In true New York fashion, it was one of the largest and grandest buildings constructed at the time,” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a Wednesday press conference. “It was a triumphant entrance into New York at its best.”

The current Penn Station is traversed by an estimated 650,000 passengers each day — more than 87,000 on NJ Transit trains — about triple its capacity.

Armed with a $3 billion redevelopment plan, Cuomo hopes to transform Penn Station into the "Empire Station Complex," a two-terminal transit hub with eye-popping architecture and shops and restaurants akin to the Midtown neighborhood around it.

But there's a major 18,200-seat obstacle standing in the way of the nitty-gritty work on the track and platform level: Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers and host to dozens of concerts and special attractions each year.

“The configuration isn’t good for a train station or a sports arena. In the long run, it’s optimal to have a dramatically different design," said Jonathan Gouveia, senior planning and infrastructure director for the Municipal Art Society of New York.

The society, a nonprofit urban planning group, has long advocated for a Penn Station overhaul. But in order to get at the real congestion — the platforms and train tracks themselves — the arena must be dramatically altered or completely removed.

“Most of the congestion doesn’t happen on surface level, unless there’s major delays,” said John Zimmerman, who commutes from Long Branch to Penn Station. “Primarily, rush hour foot traffic becomes a crawl trying to enter and exit platforms — partially due to design, partially due to poor planning on train schedules.

“People fight for space to get off their train while others fight to get down and make their departing train,” he said.

Penn Station redevelopment promises big dreams

In years past, shaky agreements have been reached to alter Madison Square Garden — from new entrances to a complete relocation — but the economics of such a move have never worked, Gouveia said.

One proposal mentioned by Cuomo was the "friendly negotiated condemnation and removal" of the Theater at Madison Square Garden, which would allow for a grand entrance along Eighth Avenue.

“I'm a businessman, but I am also a New Yorker and firmly believe that this project is good for New York,” said Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan, who also owns the Rangers and Knicks. "If there’s an opportunity to partner with the state, I will gladly take it.”

But with the arena itself still in place, transit planners are working with a short deck, unable to truly address capacity issues on train platforms and tracks. Every rail line that stops at Penn Station— NJ Transit, Amtrak, Metro-North and the Subway— projects substantial ridership increases over the next 20 years.

"We don’t think Madison Square Garden is good for Penn Station, and we don’t think Penn Station is good for Madison Square Garden," Gouveia said.

Confidence in progress

The project itself is in its infancy, technically nothing more than an idea. The state will solicit proposals from developers shortly; they will have 90 days to submit their concepts.

Though various options are available, it seems the most favorable design would be a concept utilizing two stations: Penn Station and a new train hall built at the Farley Post Office on Eighth Avenue, likely renamed "Moynihan Station" after the late New York state senator who championed the redevelopment.

The building is best known for its inscription of the U.S. Postal Service's unofficial creed: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

The governor's plan to redevelop and expand Penn Station isn’t the first time officials have eyed the 100-year-old train hub. Before Cuomo’s announcement, the state had a standing deal with two developers on a new train station across the street.

But this time around, Gouveia is confident the project will move forward.

"We’re at a moment where you have not just a governor with the political will but where folks really value mass transit a lot more in the last 10 years since the last version of this plan has come along," he said.

Zimmerman called the renderings a "paint job on a broken car."

While he appreciates the concept of natural light, "cute outside images don't address any core transit problems."

Instead of entering a palace, the city’s welcome mat is the basement of an arena, where the only thing louder than the mass of humanity is the sound of their shoes scuffling the linoleum floors.

“It really sets a sad tone for the day,” Zimmerman said. “On the good days, I ignore it, find my way out and stop thinking about it. On bad days, it feels like an outdated assembly line of broken toys.”

Or as Cuomo himself put it: “It’s a miserable experience.”

Mike Davis: (732) 643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com