New Coalition Demands End to Hochul Plan for Penn Area, Calls for Housing Over Offices

NEW YORK, NY (12/19/2023) (readMedia)-- Today, a coalition of community members, small business owners, housing advocates and other organizations launched "End Hochul's Hoax", a campaign demanding that Governor Kathy Hochul abandon support for her plan to prioritize more than 17 million square feet of luxury commercial space over urgently needed affordable housing in the neighborhood near Penn Station. Amid the city's worst housing crisis in decades and a tanking market for office space, the Governor's real estate deal would use executive authority to supersede New York City's zoning laws and hand Vornado Realty Trust and its CEO Steve Roth the power to build six commercial mega-towers.

Now, as the neighborhood sits in limbo while Vornado waits for better economic conditions that are unlikely to materialize anytime soon (if ever), coalition members will call on Governor Hochul to drop her support for the real estate handout and finally embrace a plan that puts affordable housing and community space over favors for her campaign donor. The coalition includes New Yorkers for a Better Penn Plan, the Office of the New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, New York Communities for Change, Strong Economy For All Coalition, Midtown South Community Council, Members of Manhattan Community Board 5, Members of Rethink Penn Station, Members of Empire Station Coalition, among others.

"Governor Hochul is calling on communities throughout New York State to build housing near transit, and today we are calling on her to do the same in the Penn neighborhood. We are in the midst of an ongoing housing crisis and New Yorkers are in need of housing, not luxury office towers. We must finally rid the neighborhood of this harmful deal with Vornado, and ensure our community has a say in the future of the Penn area," said Diana Gonzalez, Executive Director of New Yorkers for a Better Penn Plan.

"We concur that the Governor Hochul's General Project Plan (GPP) must be withdrawn as its call to demolish the Penn Station neighborhood to recreate a Hudson Yards East was always flawed and served one developer, Vornado Realty Trust, to the exclusion of almost everyone else. The GPP was a trojan horse justified by a supposed need to remediate Penn Station even though it, ultimately, would not direct much in the way of funding there. We don't need to keep this latter day "Urban Removal" scheme, as Jane Jacobs used to call them, alive. Rather, we need a new plan that allows the neighborhood to grow organically in support of an improved Penn Station and a real transit plan and affordable housing should be at the top of everyone's list. The Governor will be doing herself a favor to distance herself from the ill thought out and mean spirited GPP that she inherited. Her handlers are doing her a great disservice by encouraging her to keep this anti-urban juggernaut alive," said Sam Turvey, Chairperson, RethinkNYC, Co-Coordinator, Empire Station Coalition, and Coordinator, Penn Community Defense Fund.

"Governor Hochul has an amazing opportunity to pivot from being an unpopular politician to being an effective leader: pull back the GPP, stop the corporate giveaways, put regular New Yorkers ahead of billionaire real estate developers and build tons of affordable housing all around Penn Station. It's a recipe for good public policy and for good politics," said Michael Kink, Excutive Director of the Strong Economy For All Coalition.

"New York State and City should not be demolishing viable historic buildings to create massive vacant lots that blight our communities for years, waiting until it's financially viable to build luxury office towers," said George Calderaro, a board member of the 29th Street Neighborhood Association.

Under Governor Hochul's controversial "General Project Plan" with Vornado, the state would use executive authority to build more than 17 million square feet of expensive office and commercial space on six blocks surrounding Penn Station (more space than six Empire State buildings). The plan supersedes New York City's zoning laws and hands sole control of billions-of-dollars-worth of real estate to developer Vornado and its CEO Steve Roth, who have donated more than $370,000 to the Governor's campaign. The agreement requires no approval from the surrounding community or NYC, and does not include input from elected officials who represent the area.

The General Project Plan also prohibits any affordable housing from being built on most of the land owned by Vornado: of the 9.4 million square feet of space that Vornado can develop under the GPP, Vornado is only required to use 180,000 square feet, or less than 2% of its new buildings, for affordable housing. The deal also allocates minimal public space, and includes few considerations for mass transit, which was the entire justification for the GPP.

The Governor's deal was first negotiated to ostensibly help finance the renovation of Penn Station, but the continued collapse of the commercial real estate market halted Vornado's tower construction indefinitely. Under growing pressure earlier this year, the Governor announced the "decoupling" of the redevelopment of Penn Station from the massive real estate agreement, but continues to reserve almost 9 million square feet of space for Vornado to develop mega-office towers. The company's inability to build its luxury office towers for the foreseeable future effectively means the surrounding neighborhood will sit in limbo while the company waits for better economic conditions that are unlikely to materialize anytime soon.

At the same time, New York's housing crisis continues to worsen. This effect is only more acute in New York City, where the city is expected to build just 11,000 units of housing in 2023- half of the previous year's total - all while the city's housing stock continues to decline. The site of Hochul's deal could be used to build thousands of units of affordable housing, but her plan for the Penn district actually makes the crisis worse.

The End Hochul's Hoax coalition is demanding that Governor Hochul finally free the Penn community from her billionaire donor's thumb and deliver on her commitment to a better future for the area. During this upcoming legislative session, the coalition will raise awareness of the unconscionable cost of Governor Hochul's inaction and fight to replace her disastrous backroom deal with a vision that delivers what New Yorkers need now: housing, open space, and new mass transit options for all. To learn more, visit the coalition's website.

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