NEW YORK — Gov. George Pataki announced a deal Tuesday that would convert the city’s landmark post office building into a new, glass-covered Pennsylvania Station, the Associated Press reports.
Pataki and the U.S. Postal Service have agreed for the state to buy the James A. Farley Building, opposite Madison Square Garden, for $230 million and convert it into a transportation terminal.
The project could take about five years to complete, officials said. The station would serve 500,000 daily riders of Amtrak, the Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and city subways.
The building’s famous front facade — bearing the inscription “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” — will not be altered.
Ownership of the landmark building, which occupies two city blocks, is expected to be transferred within a year to the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corp.
Pataki said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has committed $145 million to buy the building. The rest will come from state bonds, Amtrak, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (news – external web site) and private sources, he said.
“A half-million people come through Penn Station each day. We want them to enter into a gateway worthy of the greatest city, the greatest state, in America,” Pataki said.
The neoclassical buildings sits across from the existing Penn Station, which would still be used, officials said. Officials say the new terminal would accommodate more riders and spark economic development.
The Postal Service would still offer lobby services in the Farley building and remain the New York District’s headquarters.