by: Robert Hauer Santos Assoc. AIA
Event: Moynihan Station: What Needs to Happen Next?
Location: The Urban Center, 05.13.08
Speakers: Kent Barwick — President, Municipal Art Society; Richard L. Brodsky — Assemblyman, New York State Assembly; Anna Hayes Levin — Chair, Community Board 4; Daniel A. Biederman — President, 34th Street Partnership; Kathryn Wylde — President & CEO, Partnership for New York City
Moderator: Charles Bagli — Reporter, The New York Times
Organizers: Municipal Art Society
The stalled Moynihan Station proposal by the Empire State Development Corporation.
Courtesy mas.org
Moynihan Station may be the linchpin to open up the last undeveloped frontier in Manhattan, according to speakers at a recent discussion hosted by the Municipal Art Society. In an unusual display of agreement, speakers representing a local community board, developers, and politicians posited that the key to opening up the West Side to new growth may be to start work on what is achievable: Moynihan Station. Acknowledging the departure of Madison Square Garden from negotiations, among other realities in a limited West Side plan, panelists agreed that moving ahead with the proposed Moynihan Station in limited form would be most productive.
Fred Papert, founder of the 42nd Street Development Corporation and audience member, addressed the panel about what will happen to the Farley Post Office building site. “Why don’t we just get going?” he asked, pointing out that the Moynihan plan had already secured over $1 billion in funding from the Federal Government. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, echoing the sentiment that the project should move ahead, proposed a new authority to run the West Side development project, and an up-or-down vote on developing the Farley Post Office.
Robert Hauer Santos, Assoc. AIA, is a junior architect at Gruzen Samton Architects.