City Council signaled Monday that Madison Square Garden will get just a five-year extension on its permit atop one of the nation’s busiest transit hubs — a move that’s a slap in the face to owner James Dolan.
The permit would be the shortest ever granted to the “World’s Most Famous Arena’’ — and is designed to ratchet up the pressure on Dolan to cooperate in the rebuilding of Penn Station below it.
“This will give us the opportunity to come up with a lasting solution for Penn Station,” said local Councilman Erik Bottcher (D-Manhattan) — whose approval is considered critical to any plan — after the proposal made it out of the council’s Zoning Committee.
“It’ll give us the space and the time to come up with an answer to solve this puzzle — but not too much space and time,” Bottcher told reporters.
The Dolan family, which owns MSG, has argued that it should have an operating permit that never expires.
Hip-hop royalty even lined up behind Dolan’s cause.
“You can’t move the Great Pyramids, you can’t move the Statue of Liberty,” Run-DMC’s Darryl McDaniels wrote Friday in a column in the Upper East Side community paper, Our Town. “These are icons. Madison Square Garden is no different.”
The City Council is preparing to vote on Madison Square Garden’s special permit to operate above Pennsylvania Station. Getty ImagesBut Bottcher argued that the short length of a new permit would require Dolan to sit down with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and come to a deal on overhauling Penn Station.
The pol added that his hope is that the eventual project could “atone” for the destruction of the grand train hall that once sat on the spot MSG now calls home.
The proposal will now head to the full City Council for a vote in September, when the panel is expected to approve it. Mayor Adams would then have to either OK or veto it. City Hall would not commit one way or the other to The Post on Monday.
Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC fame offered his support for MSG owner James Dolan’s effort to get lawmakers to renew his license. Amy Harris/Invision/AP
James Dolan wants the license extended indefinitely. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Some officials and urban planners claim the only way to improve Penn Station would be to remove MSG. Robert MillerAfter MSG’s original 50-year permit ended in 2013, the city approved a decade-long permit. This year, Dolan, a billionaire, was forced to renew his lease for the 22,000-seat arena above Penn Station yet again.
He was not happy with Monday’s move.
“A short-term special permit is not in anyone’s best interest and undermines the ability to immediately revamp Penn Station and the surrounding area,” said MSG in a statement, which went on to describe the vote as a “grave disservice to New Yorkers” and as a “shortsighted move that will further contribute to the erosion of the City.”
Officials had not publicly released the text of the proposal as of Monday evening, but the Zoning Committee’s staff indicated in a summary read to the lawmakers that the permit would require Dolan to make changes to the complex to improve pedestrian safety.
“Governor Hochul has made it clear that her priority is delivering a world-class Penn Station,” said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan in a statement.
“Under Governor Hochul’s leadership Penn Station passengers are already experiencing improvements from the new LIRR Concourse, and MTA will continue to work with our railroad partners and all community stakeholders to deliver the Penn Station that New Yorkers deserve.”
Neighborhood activists were thrilled by the tentative outcome.
“I am very happy, I am very, very happy,” said Layla Law-Gisiko, a member of Community Board 5 executive board. “I teared up.”
“It’s really momentous, truly.”
