NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — It would cost $8.6 billion to relocate the famed Madison Square Garden and build out a better Penn Station, according to the state’s economic development agency.
The Empire State Development Corporation estimated that it would cost about $2 billion to reconfigure Penn Station at the site, with the remaining cost going toward buyinging out MSG and constructing a new arena in a “proximate” location, according to a confidential meeting the corporation held with location officials
The presentation from the June 1 meeting was published earlier this week by the good-government group Reinvent Albany, which is calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to provide more transparency around Penn Station rehabilitation; its consultant, Ernst & Young; and its developer, Vornado.
Billionaire James Dolan owns the Knicks and Rangers and also heads the company that owns Madison Square Garden. MSG and Dolan benefit from a unique 1980s era tax exemption that the city’s Independent Budget Office estimates has cost the state $550 million.
The Empire State Development Corporation argued in the meeting that buying out the arena would “avoid complications” of private ownership.
Reinvent Albany published the June meeting minutes Thursday, along with other meeting details it had accessed through a freedom of information request.
“We are particularly troubled that documents and financial analyses provided by Ernst & Young have not yet been published, despite being half paid for by tax dollars and already in the possession of the project developer, Vornado,” wrote John Kaehny, the executive director at Reinvent Albany, along with other groups, in a letter to Hochul.
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