MSG Unveils Renovation Plans, Sticks To Decision Not To Move

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MSG Thursday unveiled plans for a $500M arena renovation, to be paid for entirely by MSG. The full-scale renovation, which will focus on the interior of the building and utilize the arena's current footprint, is slated to begin in '09 and will be targeted for completion by the opening of the 2011-12 seasons. Architectural firm Brisbin Brook Beynon will lead the renovation team (MSG). In N.Y., Charles Bagli reports MSG plans to "completely rebuild the seating bowl, moving the luxury suites from the top of the building to midlevel while it doubles the width of the concourses and knocks down a cinder-block wall, allowing fans to view the street through glass walls." Additionally, the seats at the top of the arena will be "eight feet closer to the games, because the angle of the stairs leading to those seats would be steeper." Under the design, the ceiling height of the entrance off Seventh Avenue, near 33rd Street, would double, and a "glass canopy" would be installed over the hall leading to the ticket windows. An upper-level party deck would be added "where patrons could mingle while viewing a game." Garden execs said that the "number of seats in the 20,000-seat arena would remain the same," but the "number of luxury suites on three levels would increase to 125 from 89." MSG Vice Chair Hank Ratner: "We think this is a great project for the city. We're going to spend $500[M] of our own money. We think we'll make everybody in New York City proud to call this their arena" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/4).

GOING ALONE: On Long Island, Arthur Staple notes MSG last week announced it was "pulling out of a proposed multi-billion-dollar plan to build a new arena across the street at the Farley Post Office, where a new train station would replace Penn Station and be dubbed Moynihan Station." That decision "brought an outcry from city and state officials who believe a new [MSG] is the key to an economic development project on the west side of Manhattan." U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) in a statement said: "We're taking a close look at this and will remain in close discussion with all parties, with a goal of building the best Moynihan Station possible and developing the West Side" (NEWSDAY, 4/4). The N.Y. TIMES' Bagli notes that advocates of the Penn Station project, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, "still hope that they can lure [MSG], which sits over the underground corridors and train rooms of the station, back into the plan once they can show substantial progress." Bloomberg spokesperson John Gallagher: "We haven't seen [MSG's] plan yet, but we will be reviewing it. We still think that it is in their best interest to build a new arena." However, Ratner said MSG is "committed" to the renovation and is no longer considering a move to the Farley location (N.Y. TIMES, 4/4). In N.Y., Brian Kates writes the decision "reflects Cablevision's apparent frustration with the state's inability to obtain sufficient funding for Moynihan Station, which is at least $1.2[B] short of its projected $3[B] cost." It was "unclear Thursday whether the state would revert to earlier" Moynihan Station plans that did not include MSG (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/4). Ratner: "We can accomplish everything anybody could want in a new arena by renovating this arena" (N.Y. POST, 4/4).