Moynihan Train Hall in Midtown moves LIRR,
Amtrak riders out of darkness and into light
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Amid the darkness of a grim year for
New York, daylight broke through
the massive skylight above the
newly opened Moynihan Train Hall in
Midtown on Dec. 30, 2020 — a project
that moved forward even as the COVID-19
pandemic derailed normal life.
The 92-foot skylight towering above the
hall’s main concourse contains more than
an acre of glass and, for the fi rst time in
more than six decades, provides natural
light to passengers heading to or from
Amtrak or Long Island Rail Road trains
stopping at Penn Station.
Governor Andrew Cuomo helped cut
the ribbon on Dec. 30 to mark the hall’s
completion decades after the late Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan fi rst raised the
idea of turning the underutilized Farley
Post Offi ce into a grand new transit hub
harkening back to the original Penn Station,
which met the wrecker’s ball in the 1960s.
For Cuomo, the Moynihan Train Hall’s
completion amid the COVID-19 pandemic
that fi rst struck New York hard in the
spring perfectly underscores the city’s
resiliency and fortitude.
“This would be an amazing accomplishment
at any time, but it is an extraordinary
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
AND ROBERT
POZARYCKI
The men living in the Upper West
Side’s Lucerne Hotel will not be
forced to leave the homeless shelter
after a New York state Appellate Court
decision issued on Jan. 5 granted them
an interim stay for the remainder of their
appeal process.
The decision means that the 200 residents
can stay possibly for six months at the
shelter, blocking a city order to move them
to relocate them to the Radisson Hotel in
Lower Manhattan’s Financial District. The
city is, however, permitted to relocate those
residents who seek to relocate voluntarily.
The stay is valid “on condition the appeal
is perfected” for the Appellate Court’s May
2021 term.
Residents had been placed in the Lucerne
to socially distance during the pandemic
but neighboring residents, claiming
residents were hurting their quality of life,
soon called on the city to move the men to
another shelter.
The city had sought to close the homeless
shelter at the Lucerne Hotel and relocate
accomplishment today,” the governor
said. “We’re at a place where no one ever
envisioned us being. We saw the greatest
country in the world fall prey to a microscopic
virus, and we have seen our world
turned upside down.”
Through it all, Cuomo noted, the work
to complete Moynihan Train Hall — which
began in 2017 — went on, meeting a goal
he outlined in January during an address
to the Association for a Better New York.
That the hall is set to open on Dec. 31 gives
the governor great optimism for the year
ahead, even as the state battles the second
wave of COVID-19.
“You will have challenges in life, but
the question becomes how you respond to
those challenges,” Cuomo said. “We learn
the lessons and move forward. What this
hall says to me is, ‘Yes, we can. Yes, we can
learn. Yes, we can grow.’ As dark as 2020
was, to me, this hall brings the light literally
and fi guratively. … New York brings the
light.”
Joining Cuomo at the ceremony were
a litany of leaders who helped move the
project forward in recent years, including
Eric Gertler, Howard Zemsky, Steve Cohen,
Douglas Carr and Holly Light of the
Empire State Development Corporation;
Tony Khosa, William Flynn and Stephen
Gardner of Amtrak; Janno Lieber and Phil
Eng of the MTA; Rick Cotton, executive
director of the Port Authority; and Paul
Goldberger, famed architectural critic who
served as a project consultant.
Maura Moynihan, the late Senator
Moynihan’s daughter, also joined in the
festivities.
The new Moynihan Train Hall moves
Amtrak and LIRR commuters out of the
dingy labyrinth of underground concourses
and tunnels that they’ve trudged through
for decades since the original Penn Station
was demolished to make way for Madison
Square Garden.
As of Dec. 31, Gertler explained, passengers
will be able to access all Amtrak
and Long Island Rail Road trains from
Moynihan Train Hall, which is located
directly above 17 tracks and nine platforms.
They’ll be able to wait in dedicated lounges
with free wi-fi access, and shop at more
than 700,000 square feet of new commercial,
retail and dining space (once dining
restrictions are lifted).
The new train hall includes three new
artistic installations as well as an art decostyled
clock that serves as its centerpiece
much like the golden clock at the heart of
Grand Central Station.
Lucerne Hotel residents allowed to remain
on Upper West Side for now, court rules
Neighbors of the Lucerne Hotel and from Vocal New York showed their
support for the homeless living at the Lucerne despite the mayor seeking to
move them to another hotel in downtown Manhattan.
all residents to the Radisson Hotel, after
receiving myriad complaints from Upper
West Side neighbors about conditions at the
hotel. Opponents claimed it was inadequate
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL
to support the needs of the residents, many
of whom were said to suffer from addiction
and mental health issues.
Even so, the Lucerne shelter residents
had gained the support of many Upper
West Side residents who rallied to their
defense. Some have decried the opposition
as a case of NIMBYism, claiming shelter
opponents simply did not want homeless
residents in the area.
On Nov. 25, state Supreme Court Judge
Debra James ruled in the city’s favor, but
an appeal was fi led by the coalition group
Downtown New Yorkers, which opposes
the relocation.
In a statement Tuesday, the New York
City Law Department expressed optimism
that the stay will not eventually lead to a
complete derailment of their relocation
plan.
“The City has a moral and legal obligation
to provide safe shelter to all who need
it,” the statement indicated. The Radisson
is better suited to meet the needs of these
residents. When all the merits are heard,
we believe the court will ultimately agree
that this move is an appropriate use of the
mayor’s emergency powers.”
4 January 7, 2021 Schneps Media