Council Member Erik Bottcher on Wednesday suggested relocating Madison Square Garden in an effort to improve the transit system below ground at Penn Station.
“We need a new Penn Station, but we’ll never have the world-class train hall we deserve as long as Madison Square Garden is sitting on top of it,” the politico tweeted. “A serious effort has never been made to identify alternative locations for MSG. That needs to happen.”
We need a new Penn Station, but we’ll never have the world-class train hall we deserve as long as Madison Square Garden is sitting on top of it. A serious effort has never been made to identify alternative locations for MSG. That needs to happen. pic.twitter.com/J508uDeqOL
— Erik Bottcher (@ebottcher) June 15, 2022
The comments from the council representative come as New York struggles to upgrade the train station on 34th Street, despite years of attempts and the successful launch of Moynihan Train Hall, which sits across the street from the arena, and began fully operating last year.
The state has also sought bids from contractors to work on a planned $7 billion overhaul of Penn Station, the governor announced earlier this month. That plan does not include any major changes to the Garden.
City Hall, led by Mayor Eric Adams, declined to comment on Bottcher’s tweet. The Governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
For more coverage of Erik Bottcher and Madison Square Garden, head to amNY.com.
Governor Hochul, who took office after previous state executive Andrew Cuomo resigned last year amid sexual harassment allegation, and is looking to win the governorship in 2022, may not want to deal with the construction of another potential stadium, after she led the state to shell out funds for a $1.4 billion stadium for her hometown Buffalo Bills.
Currently home to the Knicks and the Rangers, Madison Square Garden was built in 1964, when railroad tycoon Graham-Paige commissioned the building to increase train traffic to the Big Apple.
After years of discussion over where to locate the soon-to-be-arena, the city finally landed on the corner of 34th Street between 7th and 8th avenues.
Prior to the pandemic, in 2019, over 600,000 passengers commuted through Penn Station each workday. Meanwhile, the arena has developed a reputation as a historic stadium for basketball and hockey, with countless memorable moments coming inside the Midtown facility.
Bottcher, who alluded to residents’ complaints over noise and foot traffic, did not specify a location for where MSG could be relocated to, but advocates have long-suggested Hudson Yards as a possible destination for a professional sports team. A plan from the Mayor Michael Bloomberg-era sought to build a football stadium in the neighborhood along the Hudson River (which could have brought the New York Jets into the Five Boroughs, from their current home in New Jersey).
That plan was untimely shot-down by neighborhood advocates, who questioned the idea of bringing a new stadium (and the traffic to go along with it) to Midtown.
After the failure of that plan, city officials moved on toward redeveloping the land for housing units — and the area is now home to thousands of people, where a 28-acre rezoning plan from the city led to a burst of apartment construction in the area.
