President Trump is reportedly open to the idea of relocating New York City’s Madison Square Garden as part of the plan to redevelop the Penn Station transit hub.
According to a report in The Gothamist based on input from “four sources who have knowledge of the Oval Office meeting but asked not to be named because they were not permitted to disclose details,” the president convened a previously unreported meeting last September with members of the Grand Penn Community Alliance, a nonprofit financed by conservative donor Thomas Klingenstein. The nonprofit’s representatives presented a plan to restore Penn Station to its grand appearance before it was torn down in the early 1960s.
The arena has been at its site since 1968, and the proposal calls for a public plaza to replace the 820,000-square-foot building. The plan also calls for moving Madison Square Garden to across Seventh Avenue to the former site of the now-demolished Hotel Pennsylvania. However, the owner of that property, the real estate firm Vornado, submitted its own Penn Station development plan that includes constructing a new exterior for Madison Square Garden.
The unnamed sources noted Trump’s awareness that the nonprofit’s proposal hinged on gaining the approval of James Dolan, the owner of Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks. Over the years, Dolan has repeatedly refused offers to relocate his property, but the sources claim Trump did not write off the idea of Dolan changing his mind.
Photo: Ajay Suresh / Wikimedia Commons
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