The City Politic

Train Station Running Late

Meanwhile, the estimated cost of converting the post office has swelled from $315 million in 1993 to $1 billion today. On May 2, Moynihan turned up the public-relations heat by throwing a station-boosting party inside the Farley building, attended by Bloomberg, Schumer, Hillary Clinton, and Ray Kelly. At the end of May, Gargano’s agency, after years of promising to choose a private developer to build the train station, heard presentations from three final suitors: Mort Zuckerman’s Boston Properties, Tishman Speyer, and a partnership of Vornado (Steven Roth) and the Related Companies (Stephen Ross).

“I don’t care which developer it is, as long as they pick a developer!” Maura Moynihan shouts. “Any developer!”

“If the state and the city continue to dawdle,” says Maura Moynihan,“this chance will be gone.”

The deal, including air rights, could net the state $500 million. But it might cost the city something less quantifiable: The train station could become an afterthought. Three years ago, ESDC decided to buy the entire property between Eighth and Ninth Avenues from the Postal Service, instead of simply the portion planned for the train station. As real-estate prices have skyrocketed, so has the attraction of using the Ninth Avenue side of the site to make a killing. The developers are proposing a commercial or residential tower be built behind the train station. At least one of the proposals would shrink the spectacular public room atop the train station that has been the centerpiece of the redesign. “The train station is still the priority,” Gargano says. “We’ve made that clear to every developer. This is a very important project, and we’ve never given up on it.” He also promises a bold step forward, very soon: the selection of the winning developer “before the end of June. If we slip by a week, we slip.”

“I can be friends with anyone,” Maura Moynihan says, “as long as this station gets built.” Her approach is admirably pragmatic. Yet somewhere, perhaps in that great Senate cloakroom in the sky, Pat Moynihan must be sadly laughing at the foot-dragging politicians who have stalled his last great gift to the city.