Plans for constructing a new train station in Midtown Manhattan's Farley Post Office building progressed further this week as the Moynihan Station Development Corp. awarded a $19-million contract as part of the project's first phase. Under the contract, a joint venture of AECOM, its Tishman Construction unit, and STV will provide construction management services and rail expertise including design reviews, construction staging, and facility planning for the Moynihan Station project, which will expand Pennsylvania Station.

Rendering Courtesy of Moynihan Station Development Corp.

The first phase includes building a train shed through the expansion and enhancing the 33^rd Street Connector between Penn Station and the West End Concourse that lies under the grand staircase of the historic post office building on Eighth Avenue. It also includes widening the West End Concourse, new vertical access points, passenger circulation space, and entrances into the West End Concourse through the 31^st and 33^rd Street corners of the post office.

The total cost of the first phase of Moynihan Station is about $267 million, funded through state and federal governments. Phase one construction will create about 2,500 design and construction-related jobs and is expected to be completed by 2016.

The first phase is part of a larger project that has been on the drawing board for about 20 years, says Michael J. Evans, MSDC deputy director. The Farley building, with the exception of the building’s historic lobby, will eventually be “transformed” into a train hall that will connect to the train shed, he says. The lobby will continue to be used by the post office.

Phase two will include construction of the train hall and cost about $600 million-$700 million, which MSCD says will be funded by public and private companies. A start date has not yet been announced as MSDC is currently working on phase two financing, Evans says.

MSDC, a subsidiary of Empire State Development and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, received an $83-million grant for phase one under the Dept. of Transportation’s Transportation Initiatives Generating Economic Recovery program in October 2010.

Separately, Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this year recommended consolidating operations of MSDC and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. into the PANYNJ.