MSG VP signals willingness to relocate Orchard to accommodate Hochul’s Penn Station expansion

A senior Madison Square Garden official says the world’s most famous arena is ready to move – as long as they only need to cross across the street.

The potential relocation will see the Garden move to a nearby Seventh Avenue lot to help Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plans to expand the Pennsylvania Station transit hub.

However, MSG Executive Vice President Joel Fisher was quick to point out that there was no such workable plan, and that the Garden had no plans to relocate at this time.

He made the stunning concession during a Manhattan Community Board 5 committee hearing on Wednesday.

A proposal earlier in the hearing to move the MSG across the street to Seventh Avenue, between 32nd and 34th Streets, “will probably satisfy us,” Fisher said.

“But in the end, who will pay for this? Where’s the money? This plan has not yet come to us, but it would satisfy us, being right above the transport hub, ”he added.

Fisher appears to be referring to comments by Stephen Marmon, a member of the public, who suggested moving MSG to the center of developer Vornado Realty Trust’s stalled redevelopment plan for the Pennsylvania Station area, which includes high-rise office towers and possibly a casino. , in the same neighborhoods, first reported by Crain’s New York.

The site is currently occupied by aging office buildings and the now closed Pennsylvania Hotel, which will soon be demolished.

MSG owner James Dolan, who recently came under fire for his controversial use of surveillance technology at MSG events, is aiming to operate the garden full-time after his current city permit expires on July 24. The permit year expired in 2013, but the City Council only gave it a decade.

While Penn Station’s current redevelopment plans do not include MSG’s eviction, some state and city officials have expressed a desire to use the permit extension as a means to push the sports and entertainment complex into a move that they believe would allow for real redevelopment of the building. Neighborhood.

Asked about a possible move across the street, a MSG spokesman said such a workable plan to relocate the Knicks and Rangers’ home had never been presented to Garden management.

“Had we been presented with a realistic plan, located downtown, within easy reach of public transportation, and taking into account the $8.5 billion in public funding that Empire State Development estimates would be required to relocate the Garden, we would certainly look, it just didn’t happen,” the spokesperson said.

However, Manhattan CB5 Land Use, Housing and Zoning Committee Chair Layla Lowe-Gisiko said Fisher’s remarks about being open to relocation give the community council hope for some sort of compromise.

“It was a statement … that MSG had never made before, so it’s very important that they say they’ll consider moving,” Low-Gisiko said. “While I don’t know if this site can… be acceptable from a community standpoint, I certainly think this conversation is needed. And, look, the simple fact that they will “consider moving” is huge.