Empire Station proponents call
on Hochul to charge forward
BY MARK HALLUM
Economic development
groups, including the Hotel
Trades Council, issued letters
for Governor Kathy Hochul
to proceed with redevelopment
of the Penn Station district and
supported the demolition of the
Hotel Pennsylvania.
While opponents to the
Cuomo-era plan have pleaded the
cause of preserving what they see
as historic structures in Midtown,
The 34th Street Partnership, the
New York Building Congress and
the union say there is no path in
any direction but forward with
the Empire Station Complex.
“It’s critical that we show
residents and commuters that
we are ready to welcome them
back. Yet our aging mass transit
infrastructure, which stalled
commutes before March 2020,
will still be there as people head
back to the offi ce,” wrote Carlo
Scissura, president of the Building
Congress, in a letter. “Penn
Station is the busiest commuter
hub in the nation, and its strained
infrastructure and inefficient
systems have long caused chronic
congestion and delays. It wasn’t
designed to carry 600,000 daily
commuters. To make matters
worse, commuters exit their train
into a dark, cramped subterranean
station that does nothing to
brighten anyone’s mood.”
Despite up to two decades of
activism to save the Hotel Pennsylvania,
Hotel Trades Council
AFL-CIO President Richard
Maroko said in his statement
that it’s time for the 100-year-old
structure to make way for something
new.
“The Hotel, which is part of
the Project, is closed and we are
informed that there are no plans
to reopen it, meaning that its
employees have little prospect
for re-employment. However, we
have negotiated an agreement
with Vornado, the owner of the
Hotel, which provides real opportunities
for those employees
should the Project proceed,” Maroko
said. “Under the agreement,
Vornado will make signifi cant
payments to employees to help
them during their period of unemployment
and offer them jobs
in the new hotels Vornado intends
to develop in the Project, as well
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
as offer preferential hire in other
buildings owned by Vornado.
Because of this agreement, the
Union believes that the workers
we represent from the Hotel are
protected and that the Project
will provide them additional
opportunities.”
Opponents to the demolition
of the building at 401 7th Ave.,
which has 2,000 rooms, have appealed
to the Landmark Preservation
Commission. Efforts which
have been met with rejection
as the agency, created after the
destruction of the original Penn
Station, has deemed the hotel in
its current condition as not in the
best interest of the city.
The Hotel Pennsylvania has
made appearances in pop culture,
but was heavily renovated
over the years, and in September,
demolition began.
Both the hotel and old Penn
Station, destroyed in the 1960s
to make way for Madison Square
Garden, were designed by the legendary
McKim, Mead and White.
Dan Biederman, president
of the 34th Street Partnership,
called for Hochul to move forward
with few changes to General
Project Plan in the interest
of boosting the eventual rebound
of the local economy for offi ce
workers who will benefi t from
having transit amenities so close
new developments.
“This plan will transform the
Penn District in a way that hasn’t
been done for decades, by upgrading
our mass transit system to ease
congestion and boost circulation,
improving pedestrian and vehicular
fl ow, and providing a shot in
the arm for private development
to build new, more sustainable offi
ce buildings that will attract the
world’s leading companies and
talent,” Biederman said. “New
York’s reputation must be rebuilt,
and if we are going to continue as
a global leader, we must demonstrate
our capacity for innovation
on sustainable infrastructure and
economic recovery.”
Nurse dies after shoved
by suspected mugger
near Times Square
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A nurse who was shoved to the
ground by a brute near Times
Square has succumbed to her
injuries Saturday, according to police.
Maria Ambrocio, 58, of Bayonne, New
Jersey, was taken off life support and died
on Oct. 9, after a man shoved her to the
ground Friday afternoon.
Irvington, New Jersey, resident Jermaine
Foster, 26, allegedly robbed another
woman’s cellphone on Broadway near W.
40th Street at 1:20 p.m. on Oct. 8, and
was on the run when he pushed Ambrocio
to the ground and she hit her head on the
pavement as she fell.
Foster allegedly fl ed and ran into two
patrol cops on the corner who arrested
him for robbery and assault. They also
charged him with another robbery and
a count of burglary for taking the other
woman’s phone, according to a Department
spokesman.
Paramedics rushed Ambrocio to Bellevue
Hospital in critical condition but
passed away the next day, according to
NYPD.
She worked as an oncology nurse at Bayonne
Medical Center, said the Garden State
city’s mayor Jimmy Davis on social media.
“Please say a prayer for for Maria, an
Oncology nurse at BMC. Keep Maria and
her family in your thoughts in this diffi -
cult time,” wrote Mayor Davis on Twitter
Saturday.
FACEBOOK
Maria Ambrocio, of Bayonne, New Jersey, was assaulted and robbed by a man
near Times Square on Oct. 8.
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