Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Where did that come from?

For a while now, there's been a project underway to replace the current incarnation of New York's Pennsylvania Station. I'd regularly walk by the main post office, across the street from Penn Station, when I worked in Manhattan, and have seen it draped in huge tarps as work has been going on.

The idea was supposed to be to replace the current station with something grander, more fitting for a great city like New York and more like the old Penn Station that was demolished decades ago.


The prior version of Penn Station



Inside old Penn Station



Another view inside the old station


That sounded great to me, but now comes word that the project is blossoming into something new and huge. According to today's New York Times, the project now includes grander plans, including building two towers, one of which will be taller than the Empire State Building!!!

Okay, so where did this come from? I'm all for new business ventures and progress that will help move the city forward, but what's that all about? Clearly, there's a feeling that we've all gotten over the post-9/11 "I won't work in a tall building" sentiment, but do we really need such huge towers there? It just seems like it's a bit much to me, but then what do I know? Plenty of people will become filthy rich through this project, while I just sit here and wonder what they're thinking. Clearly, they know something (or at least "someone") that I don't!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, now my interest is really piqued. Where are they going to build a tower that big? Will it be on top of the post office/Penn Station?

Greg said...

Does the station really need such a gigantic tower? Does the city need another gigantic tower?

Lee said...

Trains, tunnels, BIG towers, "mine's bigger than yours!".....it's all phallic!

Jess said...

Eric/Greg: I'm with you.

Lee: Excellent point. Makes me wonder who's running this project! :)