NYC developer pitches tennis courts, event space at former site of Hotel Pennsylvania
NEW YORK - Just passing by Penn Station, New Yorkers can see the active work in progress by one of the city's most dominant commercial real estate groups.
Now, the real estate giant Vornado Realty Trust is tossing ideas around about using the vacant space where the former Hotel Pennsylvania once stood.
The initial plan was to build a 2.7 million-square-foot office tower, but declining demands for office space quashed the idea.
Now, surfaced renderings show the group peddling concepts for temporary tennis courts for potential US Open matches, basketball courts and perhaps a 10-story billboard.
A concept created by Vornado Realty Trust of the use of the vacant space where the former Hotel Pennsylvania once stood.
"In the middle of a housing crisis, it’s outrageous that we want to build tennis courts for the well to do and a big billboard," said New York Assembly Member Tony Simone.
Simone is voicing his opposition to the idea, pointing out that the blocks surrounding Penn Station fall under a state General Project Plan, which creates avenues for zoning overrides and grants the state greater control in development, which Simone suggests could be used to create more affordable housing.
"There's' a grand opportunity there. They knocked down Hotel Pennsylvania, amazing grand hotel. We should create grand housing for the middle class for our fire fighters for our teachers," he told FOX 5.
Earlier this month, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development reported the lowest vacancy rate ever on record, which dropped to 1.4 percent.
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"I would love open green space, no offense to these other things, but I think we should just move forward," said Simone.
VRT sent a statement to FOX 5 NY regarding the potential plan saying, "We are currently considering a number of potential interim options for the Hotel Pennsylvania site. The renderings in the presentation are for conceptual purposes."