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Plan for new MSG moves forward
Arena on Ninth Ave. would make way for towers, transform area
By Anne Michaud
Published on March 06, 2006
Cablevision Systems Corp. has signed a memorandum of understanding to build a new Madison Square Garden one block to the west, on Ninth Avenue, as part of the James A. Farley Post Office renovation, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations.
The current Garden atop Penn Station would be demolished to make way for one or two mixed-use office towers. The developers and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could also restore the station to its pre-1960s glory.
Details of the agreement are sketchy, but a source says The Related Companies brokered the deal by smoothing over hard feelings remaining from the fight over the West Side stadium between the Bloomberg administration and Cablevision executive James Dolan, the Garden's chairman.
Broadly, the deal would move the Garden into the western half of the Farley renovation, known as the Farley Annex; the space was originally slated to have 700,000 square feet of office and retail development, along with luxury apartments. Cablevision would gain a new facility in exchange for its cramped, dated home, with wider concourses, stores and restaurants. Lucrative luxury boxes would offer Rangers and Knicks fans better sight lines.
Regardless, the eastern half of the Farley building will be rebuilt as the Moynihan Station transit hub.
Opening up Penn Station
Penn Station would be outfitted with glass canopies to bring light and grandeur to its subterranean tunnels. Together, Moynihan Station and Penn Station could create an expansive transportation complex on both sides of Eighth Avenue to fuel commercial growth in the immediate neighborhood and stretching toward the underdeveloped far West Side.
One or two towers including offices and stores would rise at the site of the current Madison Square Garden, serviced by the expanded transportation hub. City officials rezoned the Garden site in January 2005 as part of the Hudson Yards district, increasing potential development to 4.9 million square feet from 1.5 million square feet. The rezoning added about $1 billion in value to the site, assuming that it is fully built out.
"It's a big idea, and it could be the best thing that's happened to midtown in a long time," says Jeremy Soffin of the nonprofit Regional Plan Association.
Related and Vornado Realty Trust are designing the Farley renovation as a joint venture by contract with the Empire State Development Corp., the economic development arm of the Pataki administration. A final design is due by June.
Tax break an issue
The companies have been in talks with Garden officials for several weeks. Discussions stalled in early January when Cablevision held out for better financial terms, sources say.
Cablevision and the developers declined to comment on the negotiations.
It isn't clear whether the Garden will still be entitled to a city property tax break that MSG receives at its current site, amounting to more than $10 million annually. Former Mayor Ed Koch agreed to the break in 1982 for then-Garden owner Gulf and Western, as an incentive to keep the company from moving the Knicks to Nassau County and the Rangers to the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
One source close to the discussions says that the Garden will keep its tax break. The prospect of tax payments from high-rise towers in place of the Garden could be enough to persuade Mayor Michael Bloomberg. City Hall hopes to fund transportation improvements, park construction and other projects in the Hudson Yards district, using revenue from new commercial development. The city had no comment.
Planning for the Farley project has dragged on for years, and observers are anxious to see that the Garden deal does not interfere with progress at Moynihan Station. Empire State Development Corp. officials are well-aware of the concern.
"ESDC is moving forward without delay on Moynihan Station, no matter what," says a spokeswoman. "That is the primary purpose of our project."
Comments? AMichaud@crain.com
©2006 Crain Communications Inc.
Plan for new MSG moves forward
Arena on Ninth Ave. would make way for towers, transform area
By Anne Michaud
Published on March 06, 2006
Cablevision Systems Corp. has signed a memorandum of understanding to build a new Madison Square Garden one block to the west, on Ninth Avenue, as part of the James A. Farley Post Office renovation, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations.
The current Garden atop Penn Station would be demolished to make way for one or two mixed-use office towers. The developers and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could also restore the station to its pre-1960s glory.
Details of the agreement are sketchy, but a source says The Related Companies brokered the deal by smoothing over hard feelings remaining from the fight over the West Side stadium between the Bloomberg administration and Cablevision executive James Dolan, the Garden's chairman.
Broadly, the deal would move the Garden into the western half of the Farley renovation, known as the Farley Annex; the space was originally slated to have 700,000 square feet of office and retail development, along with luxury apartments. Cablevision would gain a new facility in exchange for its cramped, dated home, with wider concourses, stores and restaurants. Lucrative luxury boxes would offer Rangers and Knicks fans better sight lines.
Regardless, the eastern half of the Farley building will be rebuilt as the Moynihan Station transit hub.
Opening up Penn Station
Penn Station would be outfitted with glass canopies to bring light and grandeur to its subterranean tunnels. Together, Moynihan Station and Penn Station could create an expansive transportation complex on both sides of Eighth Avenue to fuel commercial growth in the immediate neighborhood and stretching toward the underdeveloped far West Side.
One or two towers including offices and stores would rise at the site of the current Madison Square Garden, serviced by the expanded transportation hub. City officials rezoned the Garden site in January 2005 as part of the Hudson Yards district, increasing potential development to 4.9 million square feet from 1.5 million square feet. The rezoning added about $1 billion in value to the site, assuming that it is fully built out.
"It's a big idea, and it could be the best thing that's happened to midtown in a long time," says Jeremy Soffin of the nonprofit Regional Plan Association.
Related and Vornado Realty Trust are designing the Farley renovation as a joint venture by contract with the Empire State Development Corp., the economic development arm of the Pataki administration. A final design is due by June.
Tax break an issue
The companies have been in talks with Garden officials for several weeks. Discussions stalled in early January when Cablevision held out for better financial terms, sources say.
Cablevision and the developers declined to comment on the negotiations.
It isn't clear whether the Garden will still be entitled to a city property tax break that MSG receives at its current site, amounting to more than $10 million annually. Former Mayor Ed Koch agreed to the break in 1982 for then-Garden owner Gulf and Western, as an incentive to keep the company from moving the Knicks to Nassau County and the Rangers to the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
One source close to the discussions says that the Garden will keep its tax break. The prospect of tax payments from high-rise towers in place of the Garden could be enough to persuade Mayor Michael Bloomberg. City Hall hopes to fund transportation improvements, park construction and other projects in the Hudson Yards district, using revenue from new commercial development. The city had no comment.
Planning for the Farley project has dragged on for years, and observers are anxious to see that the Garden deal does not interfere with progress at Moynihan Station. Empire State Development Corp. officials are well-aware of the concern.
"ESDC is moving forward without delay on Moynihan Station, no matter what," says a spokeswoman. "That is the primary purpose of our project."
Comments? AMichaud@crain.com
©2006 Crain Communications Inc.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 3:06 PM
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