Months after Vornado Realty Trust abandoned plans for a casino at the former Hotel Pennsylvania site, the firm is floating a more open-ended pitch for the open space.
The developer is planning an 80,000-square-foot event space for 15 Penn Plaza, Crain’s reported. The proposal is a significant pivot from the 56-story, 2.7 million-square-foot office tower Vornado described for the site, which would have included 84,000 square feet of outdoor space.
Instead, Vornado’s “Penn Platform” would occupy half a block between Sixth and Seventh avenues, and West 32nd and West 33rd streets. It would be dominated by a 150-foot high, 197-foot wide billboard, which would take up 10 stories. It would stretch from West 32nd to West 33rd streets and take up the entire backside of 100 West 33rd Street.
Renderings pose the Penn Platform event space for hosting New York Fashion Week or even U.S. Open tennis matches across the two-acre outdoor area, which could house four courts.
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For Vornado’s part, this may not be a permanent installment in the Penn District. A spokesperson for the company said renderings were for “conceptual purposes” and that the company is considering “potential interim options” for the site. In an earnings call this week, Roth referred to the redevelopment of the area as “a game changer” and “an immediate must-go-see.”
But the real estate investment trust is scrambling for solutions in the district, where its plans for 18 million square feet of development are at a breaking point due to the unfavorable conditions of the office leasing environment.
— Holden Walter-Warner