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Penn Station has long been one of New York’s most frustrating transit experiences—but a new proposal aims to fix it by relocating Madison Square Garden entirely.
According to a report first uncovered by Gothamist, President Donald Trump has said he’s open to the idea as part of a massive overhaul of the transit hub, which currently serves more than 500,000 riders each day. The plan was pitched during a previously unreported Oval Office meeting last September by the Grand Penn Community Alliance, a nonprofit backed by conservative donor Thomas Klingenstein.
The group’s $7.5 billion proposal would relocate MSG, which is currently set directly above Penn Station, to a site across Seventh Avenue, freeing up space to rebuild the station with soaring ceilings, natural light and a classical design, adorned with columns, along with a massive clock and a glass canopy. (It would be a stark contrast to the low ceilings and maze-like corridors we endure today.)
It’s also, notably, the only finalist plan that involves moving the arena at all. There are two competing proposals that would instead renovate the station while leaving the Garden in place.
For decades, planners and preservationists have argued that the arena’s location is the single biggest obstacle to fixing Penn Station. The original Beaux-Arts station was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the current complex and it remains one of the great architectural losses in New York history. This proposal channels that nostalgia and hopes to recreate a sense of grandeur, albeit with a modern—and politically charged—twist.
Trump, a longtime New York real estate figure, is said to be taking the idea seriously, but there’s one major caveat: it only works if James Dolan is on board. And that’s where things get tricky. Dolan, who runs the Garden and owns the Knicks, has repeatedly and publicly rejected the idea of moving the arena, as recently as 2023.
Even if that hurdle could be cleared, the plan faces other questions, including how it would be funded and how the final decision will be made. Some officials have raised concerns about transparency in the selection process, which is being overseen by Amtrak and the U.S. Department of Transportation, with a winning proposal expected as soon as May.
Still, the idea does have momentum and ambition. Supporters see it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix one of the country’s most notoriously frustrating transit hubs, even if critics are labeling the plan as a complicated (and costly) gamble.
Hovering over all of it, however, is one more eyebrow-raising detail: the donor behind the proposal has suggested renaming a rebuilt Penn Station “Trump Station.”
Because, of course, this is New York.