USDOT details Penn Station timeline
US transportation secretary Sean Duffy and Amtrak special adviser Andy Byford have met the three shortlisted teams on New York's Penn Station redevelopment project to discuss their design proposals and will select a master developer in May.
The selection will be announced in June, Duffy and Byford said. Preliminary design and environmental permitting will occur from this summer to the end of 2027 when construction will start.
Amtrak shortlisted three teams in January to redevelop Penn Station, which is being explored as a public-private partnership under a design-build-finance-maintain procurement – Grand Penn Partners, led by Macquarie; Penn Forward Now, comprising Fengate Capital, Tutor Perini, Parsons, Arup, SOM, Grimshaw and Ullico; and Penn Transformation Now, comprising New York-based Halmar International and Italy's ASTM.
An Aecom-led joint venture with LiRo-Hill to provide project management services will work alongside Amtrak and the selected master developer throughout the transformation. Amtrak selected Hunton Andrews Kurth as the project’s legal adviser, KPMG as financial adviser and AKRF as environmental consultant to help structure the P3 approach and agreements.
Grand Penn Partners has proposed relocating Madison Square Garden to build a new station. Halmar has outlined a design that keeps the arena in place and focuses on reconfiguration of the existing Penn Station. Penn Forward Now has not disclosed details of its proposal.
A service optimisation study has been initiated to look at how to accommodate passenger service growth at the station and surrounding region. USDOT will provide Amtrak with nearly US$43m in federal funding to jumpstart the project. The Trump administration has championed a P3 model as it looks to harness private sector innovation and capital to minimise financial risk to taxpayers.
In April Duffy said USDOT and Amtrak were taking control of the Penn Station overhaul from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The cost of the previous Penn Station plan was estimated at US$7.6bn.
