Madison Square Garden, which bills itself as the world’s most famous arena, appears to have lost its attempt to function permanently on the roof of Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Station.
On Monday, two New York City Council committees voted to grant Madison Square Garden Entertainment a five-year operating license, half the length of its current 10-year operating license, which expired last month.
If the full City Council bows to the committees’ stance in September’s vote, as expected, it will give the garden the shortest permit in its history; The original license was valid for 50 years.
“At this time, the City Council cannot assess the long-term viability of an arena at this location, so five years is a reasonable timeframe for this special permit,” said Erik Bottcher, a Manhattan councilman whose borough owns Madison Square Garden.
It’s about the Garden’s relationship with Penn Station, the nation’s busiest train station and an inevitable bane for hundreds of thousands of New York City commuters. Generations of improvement efforts have failed, thanks in no small part to the 20,000-seat arena overhead, which pushes many buttresses into the station below.
For years, city planners and community leaders have dreamed of moving Madison Square Garden to a different location in Manhattan, freeing up the train station below for a major redevelopment. The Dolan family, who control the garden, only fleetingly considered the idea.
After years of disappointment, some of these urbanists have given up on that dream. Others are still clamoring for it.
New York City has a key lever to get Madison Square Garden moving: The city requires venues with more than 2,500 seats to have a special permit to operate, though land-use specifics have exempted many other arenas from those requirements.
In July, the New York City Planning Commission, whose members are majority-appointed by the mayor, recommended extending the garden’s permit by a decade, provided the garden improves the off-station pedestrian experience and works with the railroads. Critics feared that the city would have a hard time enforcing this reservation.
This shorter-term deal would see Madison Square Garden develop a plan to improve the Garden’s truck loading operations, which now rely on the use of local roads, and “effectively privatize” them, according to the city council. The garden must report back to the Planning Commission on its progress within six months. The planning officer could theoretically punish Madison Square Garden for failing to develop an adequate plan by revoking its license to operate. The city council’s plan does not appear to require the garden to enhance the public space around Penn Station by installing planters and benches.
“A last minute special permit is not in anyone’s best interest and undermines the ability to immediately transform Penn Station and the surrounding area,” Madison Square Garden said in a statement. “The committees did New Yorkers a great disservice today in a short-sighted move that will continue to erode the city — now and will continue to do so five years from now.”
Those campaigning for an even shorter term include three state MPs representing the neighborhood, as well as pro-government groups who argue a shorter renewal would keep the garden on a tighter leash.
At 9:30 a.m. Monday, one of those lawmakers, State Senator Liz Krueger, received a copy of a proposal she said had the support of the governor and city council.
State and council leadership wanted Ms Krueger to persuade Erik Bottcher, the local council to which his peers would likely submit, to back the deal, she said.
Ms Krueger disagreed, citing the urgency of the proposal, which involved a complicated process to renew the license to operate, which she said she found difficult to understand.
“I’m from the Cuomo era,” Ms. Krueger said. “I’m assuming there’s a bunch of poison pills in there that I don’t want to go near.”
Negotiations continued throughout the day on Monday, causing repeated delays in committee votes.
The brevity of the new permit could theoretically strengthen the city and state’s position in negotiations with the Dolan family by creating an uncertain business environment for the arena’s owners, who may not want to put serious money into the garden they are paying for have no guarantee over a longer period of time.
But the Dolan family has proven adept at bending the will of government to further their own interests, especially when the various branches of government disagree.
Currently, policymakers are locked in a separate debate over how best to move forward with Penn Station’s renovation while the garden remains.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has a plan. Its CEO Janno Lieber has indicated that the MTA would like to lead the process. An Italian infrastructure company, ASTM North America, has proposed an alternative concept that has garnered support from some local elected officials. This company is headed by Patrick J. Foye, former CEO of MTA, who on paper was Mr. Lieber’s boss.