"The Post Office portion used by the public will be retained as is, under the Moynihan model. The interior portions (forever off limits to the public) will become the Amtrak main hall. For all but Postal groupies, this should enable a long-hidden grand space to become part of the city's day-to-day life. IMHO, it has actually been very fortunate that Moynihan Station has taken this long to evolve. Ten years ago, such would have been designed to emphasize amenities & ped access from all sides, except the west. Today, a much clearer sense of the far west side's future (Hudson Yards, Manhattan West, High Line, high-rise residential, #7 line, likely a relocated MSG) has emerged.
This enables 21st Century-appropriate Amtrak, LIRR, NJTrain (maybe someday MetroNorth) configs to evolve as key transit & retail components in an E-W corridor, running between Herald Sq and the Hudson.
Ten years ago, such would have seemed far fetched -- Today, it's a plan in progress. It already includes providing for new rail density (new Manhattan-side Amtrak/NJTrain approach tunnel to Moynihan & Penn being build beneath Hudson Yards towers). While transit funding comes along in stage-by-stage increments (Amtrak tunnel $$ is tbd) -- more has happened in the last 5-7 yrs than in any time since the current Penn Station was built. 10-15 yrs from now, it'll likely be hard to view what then exists, and envision a time when this wasn't the plan.OneNYersOpinion [Long-Awaited Moynihan Station Is Actually Making Progress]
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