Moynihan West

According to the Venture's preliminary design, Eighth Avenue would be the main entrance for both sets of visitors. Madison Square Garden patrons would be encouraged to use the building's grand staircase. If necessary, they will stop at the Post Office's ticketing windows, which would be converted into Garden ticket booths (with the postal functions being retained at some windows). They would walk around either side of the ticket windows to a mezzanine walkway overlooking the train hall on the way to the arena to the west.

Travelers destined for Amtrak or commuter trains would likely prefer to enter the building at street level instead of climbing up the grand stair only to have to head back down four levels to the platforms. Street-level entrances would be located on the 31st Street and 33rd Street corners, as well as at mid-block between Eighth and Ninth Avenues on 31st and 33rd Streets. Additional entrances to Moynihan West would be built on Ninth Avenue. Upon entering, travelers would proceed to a modern, attractive West Train Hall to be built behind the row of Post Office sales windows. They would stop by train ticket offices, if necessary, before moving down to the train platforms using a series of escalator banks.

The West Train Hall would provide direct access to six of the station's 11 platforms. Three more platforms would be accessible via the existing West End Concourse. The remaining two platforms (Platforms 1 & 2) would also be accessible from the West End Concourse if NJT is able to engineer an extension of those platforms 1 and 2 westward. Thus although transit users and MSG patrons would be using the same building, their flows of traffic would be largely separated. 

After Madison Square Garden moves to Moynihan West, the Venture's plan is to tear down today's Penn Station and rebuild it as a grand new structure with two train halls, new access to the platforms, two east-west corridors open to the sky, and new and relocated connections to adjacent subway stations and to the street.

In addition, under the Venture development plan, two new towers would be built, comprising up to 5.5 million square feet of office, hotel and retail space. One tower would be located at the northwest corner of the site, near Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street, and the other further to the east and just north of 31 Street. A 250-room hotel is also envisioned at the top of the new 33rd Street office tower. In addition to retail space placed at key locations through the site, there would be a 300,000 square-foot anchor department store west of the existing 2 Penn Plaza office building, which would remain. The western edge of Moynihan East would feature a porous market/retail area along Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, with a view toward Moynihan West and its grand staircase. The proposed Venture design for Moynihan East includes several other key features. At the street level of the station (known as Level C), there would be two east-west concourses connecting the Main Train Hall (in the western half of the building) with the East Train Hall (on the eastern half). The corridors would be constructed just north and south of the 32nd Street axis, adding to the street-level pedestrian circulation grid while also serving the station. The new department store would be centered along these two concourses, between the two train halls. Also on Level C, there would be a new north-south corridor just west of 2 Penn Plaza that would connect Moynihan East with the new ARC station at 34th Street. The LIRR entrance on 34th Street just west of Seventh Avenue would be moved west to align with the ARC concourse and reduce congestion at the 34th and Seventh intersection. NJT and LIRR ticketing would take place in the Main Train Hall and East Train Hall on Level B, one floor down from Level C. The proximity of the two operations would make joint ticketing capabilities easy to implement. 

Also located at Level B would be the Amtrak waiting area with ticket booths and seating. From Level B, stairways and escalators would take passengers to Level A and then to the platform level below that. At Level A there would be three north-south concourses extending from 31st to 33rd Streets, one of which would provide a direct underground connection to the ARC station under 34th Street. Each concourse would be wider than the corridors there today, and have access to all 11 train platforms. The two corridors to the west would open up to a large commuter waiting area between them, below the Amtrak train hall on Level B. The current LIRR concourse at Level A under 33rd Street would be widened to permit easier pedestrian flow and more retail space. 

The Venture design for Moynihan East would also include one or more iconic features, not unlike the clock at Grand Central Terminal, which could become meeting places for passengers. The location and design of these features are still uncertain, complicated by the desire to offer such a feature for both intercity and commuter passengers. Since the current design separates these two markets, two such focal points, each distinctive, may be both desirable and necessary. For more detailed information about the Venture's plans, read A Regional Rail Center, an RPA report released in August 2007.