Are you breathlessly awaiting the long-overdue expansion and redevelopment of our shabby Penn Station? Now there is something you can do to try to move the massive project forward.
The developers behind the $500 million project are asking supporters to sign a petition. It would be shared with state, congressional and executive branch federal officials likely to be doling out huge sums of infrastructure and other state and federal job-creation funds in the months ahead.
The first phase construction at the train station already is set to kick off this summer with a $90 million redevelopment mostly funded by Amtrak. Plans for the surrounding area call for hundreds of new market-rate apartments, an eight-story office and retail tower off North Charles Street and a revival of the Station North Arts and Entertainment District.
The first phase of rail infrastructure work at the 110-year-old station will include the renovation of an existing platform to bring it back into service and the construction of an additional platform. No word on what will be the fate of the infamous male-female sculpture that stands in front of the current main entrance.