Dive Brief:
- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that the joint venture of Related Cos., Vornado Realty Trust and Skanska USA (RVS) will redevelop the James Farley Post Office into Moynihan Train Hall under a fixed-price, design-build contract, according to The Real Deal. The $1.6 billion project is part of the overall Pennsylvania Station renovation. See renderings here of the new hall.
- In addition to the 255,000-square-foot train hall renovation, which will host ticketing and waiting areas for the Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak, RVS will also build 112,000 square feet of retail and 588,000 square feet of office space in the post office building. Construction is set to begin this fall and be complete in 2020.
- RVS kicked in $600 million for what the governor's office called "the value of the development opportunity" at Farley. The rest of the project will be funded by $570 million from Empire State Development and $425 million from the Port Authority, Amtrak, LIRR and the federal government.
Dive Insight:
It came as a surprise to some that the governor split up the Penn Station portion of the project from the Farley segment, according to The Real Deal. Cuomo also referred to the entire undertaking as the Penn-Farley Complex instead of the Empire State Station, a name he used in the original January announcement. When the renovations to both Penn Station and the new Moynihan Train Hall are complete, an underground concourse will connect the two.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is scheduled to issue requests for proposals Wednesday for the Penn Station portion of the project. That plan includes upgrading two subway stations, digital passenger information screens, lighting upgrades and tripling the width of one of Penn Station's most used corridors. At the beginning of 2016, Cuomo announced the Penn Station renovation as a linchpin in a broader endeavor he called "the largest construction program in the modern history of the state." Cuomo also highlighted a $22 billion investment in upstate infrastructure, a third track for the Long Island Rail Road’s Main Line, and a $1 billion expansion of the Javits Center, which could see construction begin later this year.
The Moynihan Train Hall and the Javits Center renovations are just a few New York projects authorized to use design-build, although Cuomo and some state officials have pressed for more latitude in being able to utilize the delivery method. In March, Cuomo touted the benefits of design-build, particularly on large projects. Advocates have said that being able to use design-build on the Tappan Zee bridge project has enabled construction to move along at a faster clip, but at that time, city officials expressed their hesitancy to make the leap to increase the use of the delivery method.
