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Madison Square Garden Entertainment opposed the company’s request to relocate the arena to make way for a better Penn Station, saying the move would be expensive, unnecessary and impractical.
MSG Entertainment said in a statement: “Our millions of fans and thousands of employees love and depend on our location and proximity to public transportation, and didn’t want The Garden to move.”
The statement was one on the sand from Jim Dolan, head of MSG Entertianment, which leases the arena and owns the Knicks and Rangers, but the city’s permit to operate the garden at its current location will expires in July this year.
“There has been no substantive conversation about relocating the gardens since the city granted the last permit a decade ago,” insisted MSG Entertainment, with critics complaining that previous permits had been conditional on the gardens being relocated within ten years.
“In fact, there was never a realistic proposal or financial model for relocating The Garden,” MSG Entertainment said. “This included discussions of moving MSG to the Farley building during 2007-2008 due to political and financial considerations from It’s not MSG’s fault that it’s not close to being viable.”
Originally located in Madison Square, Madison Square Garden has been at its current location since the Pennsylvania Railroad, desperately trying to avoid bankruptcy, demolished its famous 1910 depot in 1963 and sold the rights to build the gardens over it.
The city issued a permit allowing renewal of the permit this year. MSG Entertainment noted that Mayor Adams said the other day that he likes where the gardens are located.
Ultimately, however, the decision to extend the permit will rest with the City Council.
The garden said it had applied to the city planning department to “permanently” extend the rights to its current location.
The decision to support MSG Entertainment’s motion would dash the hopes of community groups and design groups who believe the only way to ultimately save Penn Station is to remove the gardens from its top.
“MSG Entertainment’s surprise announcement today of its decision not to relocate The Garden is not only full of misleading statements, but points our city in the wrong direction,” declared Alexandros Washburn, chief architect of the Grand Central Community Alliance, which is pressuring one of them. for a new station. “Relocating the gardens is not only about giving us the train station and public space we deserve, it’s about creating a better and more profitable sports and entertainment venue. No, it won’t cost taxpayers money. No, it will Couldn’t be any harder to get to.”
The owner of Hudson Yards, Related “has envisioned a spectacular hotel and casino complex for the Westside rail yard,” Washburn noted.
“A new MSG could be part of it. It would bring in more than $4 billion a year to the city – today MSG generates $2 billion. At the same time, the city will have a spectacular new station , a station that is both modern and evocative of its former glory, and an expansive new park.”
RethinkNYC President Samuel Turvey recently hosted a talk at the Cooper Union about three distinct plans to make Penn Station better if the gardens were moved, he said. “Relocating Madison Square Garden is the right decision for the residents of New York City and the metropolitan area,” said the statement.
“This is the only solution that allows the city, state, and region to develop and allocate a viable financing strategy for the needed transit modernization and worthy Penn Station. New Yorkers and tri-state commuters deserve a modern transit hub that There is direct access to the outer boroughs, Long Island, and outlying counties, just as the Metro provides access and “connectivity” to our outer boroughs.”
Both the garden and the mayor said the garden’s current location right on top of rail and subway services is a huge boon for those attending the event. But Turvey disagreed.
Turvey disagreed. “Madison Square Garden offers more convenience to attendees sitting above our current problematic Penn Station, and this is not an honest opportunity to pass up the opportunity to create a unified regional public transit hub covered by valuable ground stations Reason,” Turvey said.
Governor Kathy Hochul accepted a development plan originally proposed by her predecessor to build 10 sky features around Penn Station and take a portion of the revenue to fund renovations to the existing station. But critics say the plan, known as GPP, is overblown and a gift to Vornado, the community’s largest property owner, without adequately restoring Penn Station.
“All levels of government agree: We must have a wonderful new Penn Station that we can be proud of,” said Councilman Tony Simone, who represents the district. “Unfortunately, we don’t have any unified support plan at this time. Local elected officials oppose the plan and Senator Schumer has called on the state to compromise. With Vornado already announcing it won’t be able to fund it for years, if not a decade, the GPP appears to be dead Is it time to consider a new approach?”
Often regarded as one of the worst train stations in America, Penn Station is cramped and dark. Amtrak recently completed construction of a new station for intercity passengers across the street. But Long Island Railroad and New Jersey Transit riders continue to use the old station.
After Dolan’s “in perputity” plan came to light, Simone said: “If the garden’s claims were true, the city wouldn’t have given them a special permit ten years ago just to extend it for another 10 years,” Simone said in a statement. . “It is arrogance to claim the right to an indefinite deferment while paying zero property tax before councils have set the criteria for approval.”
Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal of New York, like Assemblyman Simone, has been at odds with Dolan over his use of facial recognition technology to bar lawyers working for companies that have a pending lawsuit against MSG Entertainment, and he has also been sharply critical of Dolan’s pursuit of “in perpetual leases.” .
“The hubris of MSG and its CEO is breathtaking,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “If MSG has ‘full ownership’ of the arena, as they claim, then 40 years later, it’s time for them to start paying the people of New York City the property taxes they deserve. Since 1982, the world’s most famous arena Farm benefiting from the world’s largest sweetheart deal without paying a penny in property taxes. We should end it.
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