November 22, 2021
Empire Station Complex
The Empire Station Complex, bound by 6th and 9th Avenues, 34th and 31st streets is a massive, years-long project that includes significant land use, public spaces, and transportation impacts for our community. It is being managed by the New York State Empire State Development Corporation (ESD). CB5 has joined with local elected officials and Community Board 4 to lead the effort for a more comprehensive, transparent and community engaging process. This community coalition has successfully advocated for a much stronger public process and tied any public monies currently allocated to the project to transportation improvements only. A list of members currently serving on the Empire Station Complex Community Advisory Committee is included at the bottom of this post.
You can find Statements and Resolutions passed by CB5 here: MARCH 2021, DECEMBER 2021 and MARCH 2022.
On Tuesday July 13th, CB5 co-sponsored a meeting for residents, businesses and building owners on blocks that may be directly impacted or displaced by the expansion and redevelopment project. They were able to hear about the current proposal from ESD and ask questions about how the project will specifically impact them. You can view that meeting on our YouTube Channel. A link to an example of a brochure provided to tenants and owners to explain applicable law, regulations and assistance provided to displaced persons and businesses can be found HERE.
On Thursday , July 15th, CB5 and CB4 along with elected officials held a Town Hall with ESD for a presentation of the plan. View that Town Hall here.
The formal ESD Public Hearing for the project has been postponed. We will update you once we have a new public hearing date.
Please see the joint CB5/CB4 statement on pausing the project and the CB5 Resolution on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement
You can also find information and documents for the project on the ESD website.
Community Advisory Committee Members Hon. Corey Johnson, NY City Council Hon Gale Brewer, Man Borough President Hon. Richard Gottfried, NY State Assembly Hon. Brad Hoylman, NY State Senate Hon. Robert Jackson, NY State Senate Hon. Carolyn Maloney, US House of Representatives Hon. Jerry Nadler, US House of Representatives Louis Bailey, WE ACT for Environmental Justice Simeon Bankoff, Historic Districts Council Vikki Barbero, Community Board 5 Christine Berthet, Community Board 4 Dan Biederman, 34th St Partnership Kyle Bragg, 32BJ Julia Campenelli, Hells Kitchen Block Association Fred Cerullo, Grand Central Partnership Paul Devlin, Community Board 4 Kevin Finnegan, Labor Lawyer Basha Gerards, Real Estate Board of NY Elizabeth Goldstein, Municipal Arts Society Danny Harris, Transportation Alternatives Wendy Hilliard, Women's Sports Foundation Brook Jackson, Partnership for NYC E.J. Kalafarski, Community Board 5 Lowell Kern, Community Board 4 Hope Knight, Greater Jamaica Dev Corp Layla Law-Gisiko, Community Board 4 Jeffrey LeFrancois, Community Board 4 Felicia Park-Rogers, Tri-State Transportation Campaign Santos Rodriguez, Building & Construction Trades Council Tokumbo Shobowale, New School Eugene Sinigalliano, Midtown South Community Council Clayton Smith, Community Board 5 Prof Marilyn Taylor, U Penn Jessica Walker, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce Tom Wright, Regional Plan Association