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!