The business owner around Pennsylvania Station is Governor Kathy Hochul, 10 new skyscrapers. The
state Empire State Development Corporation will vote in the coming weeks to approve plans to allow authorities to expel 473 companies and 128 households.
The plan, supported by Mayor Eric Adams, uses tax revenues from the new office tower to fund the aesthetic refurbishment of Pennsylvania Station, the largest transportation hub in the United States. increase.
The local merchant, who heard only the grunts about the plan, told the post that he was worried about what was waiting for his neighborhood.
"This pub is basically my livelihood and my life," said Angela Riley, 68-year-old owner of Molly Wee Pub on Ace Avenue and 30th Avenue.
Riley, who opened a bar with her husband who died more than 40 years ago, first whispered a year ago about the state's plans to cover her entire block with a bulldozer. I heard.
But she has been officially informed about the fate of the building. Not She owns a pub and seven residential tenants living above.
"They need to refurbish the pennsylvania, but they don't have to remove the entire block," she said.
Hochul inherited efforts from the former government. Andrew Cuomo. In November, the state said it had reduced the size of the tower by 7%, but did not retreat Cuomo's plans to circumvent the city's zoning process to seize and destroy privately owned buildings.
Neighboring groups and government observers are governorsHe accused him of diverting billions of dollarsThe long-awaited tax revenue will instead be in the pocket of real estate developer Vornado Realty Trust. Vornado CEO Steven Roth and his familydonated tens of thousands of dollars to Hochul's reelection campaign.
"There should be plenty of room to get the best of the old and new, they just don't want to hear it," said an architect fighting the project under the nickname ReThinkPennStation NYC. Samuel Turvey said. “They are like locusts and have this insatiable appetite.”
Turvey's group has fixed the number of affected homes and businesses to 6,000 and 2,000, respectively. This is far more than the state estimate.
Other historic buildings destroyed under the plan The things are: Hotel Pennsylvania on Seventh Avenue, Gimbel Skybridge on 32nd Avenue, and the church where the Franciscan brothers live.
Rocker Steve Marshall, 71, says New York will lose part of its music history if his soundproof recording studio, where Madonna was laying tracks before becoming a celebrity, is destroyed. I'm afraid. Overlooking Madison Square Garden, the studio was once one of 100 studios on West 30th Street.
"Almost all major musicians in New York are either living, rehearsing, or recording on West 30 Street," he said.
When Marshall moved to the building in 1976, punk rock band Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone lived on the second floor, and Eric Clapton, Roberta Flack, and Paul Simon drummer Steve Gadd lived on the 15th floor. I was there.
"Jennifer Lawrence is running in'Don't Look Up' I feel like warning people not to knock down these buildings with so much music history, "Marshall added, referring to the 2021 Netflix movie.
307 West 30th Street is the 1876 brownstone that holds the genealogy of more than 100,000 Lithuanians who emigrated to the United States from 1886 to 2012.
The non-profit Lithuanian Alliance America (LAA) has occupied brownstone for the past 112 years. This location was the first port of call for newly arrived Lithuanian immigrants before boarding a train at the Pennsylvania Coal Mine, Pittsburgh Ironworks, or Pennsylvania Station to Chicago's Stockyard.
"If you lose this building, you will lose history." LAA board member Antanas'Tony' Dambriunas said. "Our 100 years of history and culture will be lost. Generations of memories will disappear. It hurts."
Threatened by redevelopment Molly Wee is not the only famous drinking fountain.
After serving beer at Pennsylvania Station for 17 years, the sports bar truck became grass in 2019 to give way to the current refurbishment. The owner did not receive financial compensation from the state.
Three days after the truck owner reopened the bar opposite Pennsylvania Station, Cuomo took a bulldozer to his new truck home at 31 west between 7th and 8th Avenues. Announced a plan to cover. If the truck is kicked out again to give way to the new office tower, the bar owner will not be able to afford to start over a third time.
"It could be thrown back into the MTA," said co-owner Michael O'Brien. "After COVID, and in such an economy, we couldn't afford to open third place."
"It's been a long way, but everything is very uncertain and frustrating.
ESD spokesman Matthew Gorton said the plan to vote by ESD does not really involve foreclosure of assets. Assets that the developer does not yet own are handled individually by the authorities responsible for pennsylvania expansion. Facing south.
"No matter which railroad operator is responsible for the move, we must provide relocation assistance in strict compliance with applicable laws and procedures," Gorton said in an email. I am saying.
Vornado already owns properties that include about 150 different businesses that release shutters when developers build skyscrapers with hundreds of employees.
Tracks owner O'Brien hopes to find out more after Tuesday's primary. According to Gorton, ESD's board of directors will vote for the plan in July 2022.
Barfly Abe Figero (73) is drinking at Molly Weepub has become a "second home" since 1988. He held his retirement party there earlier this month.
"Check the hearts of the people in this neighborhood, and they will be overwhelmed by the loss of this pub," Figero said.
"People here are like families."
