This is a great place to build a tower. Right next to Penn Station and do many subways. On reddit someone asked what is the worst street in NYC and 6th Ave by Macy's came up big because if the homeless encampments and the frequent homeless masterbating in public. I think the issue is not a few thousands workers going to and from the office but a few people who block the sidewalk all day long.
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Ever walk on 7th Avenue near Macy's? The sidewalks are so crowded that the City blocked off a lane of southbound traffic so as to widen the sidewalk.
So, no. The area is already plenty congested. No upward expansion of the Macy's building. Not to mention that when the building was built, presumably by the present owners predecessors, the explicit and implicit agreement that the builders made with the City was that THIS would be the size of the building. No reneging at this time on that deal.
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That area, basically west 34th Street, is absolutely insane. The crosstown 34th Street bus is an exercise in futility. The sidewalks are utterly jam packed. I first got to know the area in the early nineties, when there were fewer tourists, Macy's was a great place to visit for lunch and there was still a lot of Garment District quaintness and a bit of danger. Now it's a lot less quaint and still dangerous. Let Macy's build that tower but by absolute necessity shut down 34th Street to all vehicular traffic except buses.
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If New York City is experiencing a booming economy as reporter Matthew Haag writes, why are there so many empty storefronts to let?
If R.H. Macy's is considering paying for infrastructure and transit-related improvements, that is certainly welcome. "Amenities" is what Community Planning and Zoning Boards call it; legalized extortion is what some real estate people consider it. But it garners good will, and one cannot put a dollar value on good will. Further, such would ease the congestion problem. And congestion in Mid-town Manhattan? Nothing new.
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Of course it will be built. Our ineffective mayor has overseen a budget that is increasing by multiples of the rate of inflation. The giveaways have to be funded so the building must go on. He has to feed the beast. BTW, the tower is the easy part. Just imagine all the digging to occur so the infrastructure can handle the increased traffic. I know this as I observe daily, the construction in Greenwich Village related to the 35 story malignant tumor NYU is building.
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With loads of office space at Hudson Yards and down at the WTC this is truly unnecessary.
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Macy's, the force behind the Fireworks and the Thanksgiving Parade, should be allowed to do whatever they want with a tower. Why punish them for doing what so many others are doing right now?
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Herald Square is overcrowded, but I'm squarely on the pro-development side here. There are so many transit options that this neighborhood is frankly under-zoned. Let the city mandate increased sidewalk space with new development.
The article doesn't mention all of the 2-3 story retail trash on the South side of 34th between 6th and 7th avenues. That should all be razed for a new development.
I was hoping someone in City Hall would announce support for using eminent domain to tear down virtually that entire block and getting Chase to move there as opposed to them tearing down their current 50 story building on Park Ave.
The Times should mention the large community of pro-development activists on sites like new york yimby.
New York is in a perpetual housing emergency and nothing will improve unless there is a vast increase in supply. That also means building over Sunnyside Yards ASAP.
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@D W "Underzoned"? Do you ever come down from your ivory tower to actually try to walk there?
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It would help if we could limit non-foot transportation through the Herald Square area to buses, the subway, Citi-bikes and medallion cabs.
One commenter below suggested the good idea of an underground walkway between the Herald Square subway station and Penn Station-- perhaps Macy's could pay for that as part of their investment----they could place little shops along the (underground) way
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Great cities everywhere are buckling under the pressure of tourist hoards, overdevelopment, infrastructure under-investment and a political leadership and bloated civil servant class laser focused on the preservation of their outsized pensions - via whatever revenue generation scheme they deem necessary. Oh, and also a culture of benign neglect “reportage” from a journalism perfectly suited to the era of moral bankruptcy.
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@Mia Your point?
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If there's anywhere to build a tower, it's here. Walkable from many points in the city and well-served by numerous transit lines.
Yes, we vastly need to improve the subway, Penn Station, etc., but towers like this are only helping, not hurting the problem.
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Given the sway self-serving greed has in this city, and our obsequious officials, if this tower is never built, that would be the true "Miracle on 34th Street".
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If it doesn't happen in our lifetimes it will happen in the future. 100 yeas from now Manhattan will look like Hong Kong which at that point will be one big building 1000 stories tall.
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@aimlowjoe I'm glad I'll be dead.
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The author is missing the point, and are most commenters. There's no mention of closing streets to automobile traffic. (Trucks could make deliveries at night.)
Statistics about congestion here are given in terms of tourists, workers, pedestrians, etc.
Close the streets to auto traffic and things become immediately more manageable.
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@DD
This is a major intersection for public/bus transportation - streets cannot be closed off.
People going to/from Penn Station may need to use taxi/car service.
As for delivery at night - that just means pushing the burden onto low-income workers - truck drivers, store staff, security and other workers have to work at night? No time with families? Child care responsibilities?
The real answer - Macy's should not build. The area is already over-developed and over-crowded.
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@SLM
No streets can ever be closed in Manhattan it seems. Except for weekend fairs on the UES.
And so the Broadway district remains a nightmare when if ever there were an area to cordon off from vehicles, that's it.
Now you're saying that deliveries have to be made in the middle of rush hour or the working day, too?
No wonder the city is such a mess.
Let's see what congestion pricing does, but I'm for actually closing streets. Keep a bus lane, and allow cabs and Lyft to use it, but this idea that these great wide thoroughfares have to be for autos while pedestrians struggle on the sidewalks is crazy.
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@DD
In this area, nearly all vehicles are commercial - construction vehicles, delivery trucks, services vans (repair, plumbing etc), tourist buses, MTA and other buses, Uber. Very few individual cars. Overdevelopment is the cause of congestion.
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The artists who wind up squatting there in 50 years, after the bubble inevitably bursts, will certainly appreciate the views.
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I spent the first 40 years of my life in New York City, with the exception of 2 miserable years on Long Island. Today, as I near retirement I cannot for the life of me imagine ever going back.
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@Andy Good.
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It was once said, "What is good for General Motors is good for ..."
And look where that went.
Now Macy's. By the way, Macy's who ? or what ?
"Macy’s, the epicenter of Herald Square for more than a century, wants to test the area’s limits."
Maybe Amazon could take a leaf from that. And do so from its own money, without the City lending a hand.
Already, "The flurry of construction has added more than 40 million square feet of new office space in the city in the past two decades..." And Amazon wants the City to spend public money for Amazon to build its corporate office buildings here ?!
Or Macy's could join the queue behind Amazon ?!
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Create a pedestrian tunnel under 33rd street connecting the subway station and Penn Station. Prevent tourists from using said tunnel. Problem solved.
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@Brian No no no Brian. You have to solve the problem of how to prevent tourists from using this tunnel. Ask for passports?
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The last thing NYC needs is another giant tower, particularly one over Macy's.
Matthew Haag notes that New York's population is near a record high.
I think instead it is far above any prior high. Subways have become so crowded, as have city streets.
Enough already. The city government, while always looking for funds, must also care for the integrity of the city and its residents.
Not another tower over Macy's, please.
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I am happy to see that Macy's continue to survive. It was my favorite store where I would buy my shirts and kitchen items. Herald square is a very busy place but it is good for the city. I wonder if the pigeons are still flocking to that area?
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@Tonjo
Sorry, pigeons can't afford the rent anymore.
Have you priced the underside of an overpass lately? Forget it.
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What is the purpose of the tower's sq footage? We already have so much empty retail space, empty apartment buildings. So it would be corporate offices. What is the vacancy rate for business towers now?
Is this necessary for anyone but the developers? Are we now at the stage where we just build but don't care what happens once the building is erected?
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@If it feels wrong, it probably is We're well past that stage.
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1. Can't a City Planner sit down with a mathematician and discover the max # of people that can reasonably move in and out of a given area, and then we stick to that ceiling? Developers and capitalists cannot have the only say here.
2. How are ordinary people going to benefit from this? "Jobs and taxes" is not enough of an answer. Do not let Trump-style deals create overcrowding that rich people do not have to deal with. More offices means more workers. Where are their kids going to school? Who is going to police their safety? Who is going to whisk them to an ER when they get heart attacks? Overcrowding is no joke.
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@Daniel Mozes we arent overcrowded though. It's must better to concetrate people in the city center where there's already services and plenty of destinations within walking distance, than in far-flung suburbs which are a wasteful use of space.
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