By Jimmy Vielkind 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's latest plan to redevelop Pennsylvania Station shows he really has become a 21st century Robert Moses -- not just in dreaming big about infrastructure, but in tugging every available lever of power to move projects along.

The Democratic governor invoked Mr. Moses' name when he announced in early January that the state would acquire the block just south of the existing rail hub, which sits below Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan, to add an additional eight tracks and accommodate regional growth.

But Mr. Cuomo laid the seeds for the proposal nearly two years ago, when he slipped a clause into budget legislation that would pave the way for the state to use eminent domain in the area. It is a tactic reminiscent of Mr. Moses -- who held enormous sway over public works in New York through various unelected positions from the 1920s through the 1960s.

As documented in Robert A. Caro's 1974 book "The Power Broker," Mr. Moses amassed power in ways that those around him only later came to understand. He once drafted a bill that gave the Long Island State Park Commission vast powers to seize lands based on an obscure definition of "appropriation."

The budget language Mr. Cuomo won in 2018 was more explicit. It declared Penn Station "antiquated, substandard and inadequate" as well as "in need of modernization to meet public safety needs." It directed the state to begin planning for the rail hub and unspecified "surrounding areas" to fix those problems. Legal experts say this could help the state make the case that there is a public use to justify eminent domain.

The area now being eyed for expansion -- bounded by Seventh and Eighth avenues, 30th and 31st streets -- includes offices, bars and restaurants, a homeless shelter and a Roman Catholic church that dates to 1840.

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, a Democrat who represents parts of Manhattan, including Penn Station, said he had great reservations about the breadth of the language and feared it could be used for real-estate development on different blocks. The track expansion now on the table is less concerning, he said.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said after Mr. Cuomo's announcement in January that he had concerns about any state-led project occurring outside of the city's zoning rules and that the value of new real-estate development could be excluded from the city's tax rolls. But the Democratic mayor held his fire, saying the governor hasn't released much specific information.

In an interview after the governor's presentation, Janno Lieber, chief development officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the state didn't have an estimate for how much the expansion would cost but planned to raise funds selling development rights over the new tracks as well as capturing some revenue from surrounding sites that could be up-zoned.

Officials at Empire State Development, the state's economic development authority, haven't ruled out the use of eminent domain but said they would work with the city and other stakeholders as the project moves forward. That could take more than two years, Mr. Lieber said.

Dani Lever, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cuomo, reiterated on Friday the desire for comity and said everyone should support a transformational project for the city. But Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow who focuses on infrastructure at the conservative Manhattan Institute, said she was wary the governor wouldn't play nice.

"It's the normal interplay between the state and the city where Cuomo is almost always the smarter party and gets the better end of the deal," she said.

Mr. Cuomo said Thursday that the current station was a hellscape, and that people shouldn't be concerned with his moves. He brushed aside concerns over eminent domain and said the state has done major developments in Manhattan, including Battery Park City. (It was built on landfill in the Hudson River.)

"We're talking about one block. You could fit 20 of them, I'll bet, in Battery Park City," Mr. Cuomo said. "We can do good things. We can do big things. We're not impotent -- we're New York. Welcome to the state."

THE QUESTION: Which architect designed the original Penn Station?

-- Know the answer? Leave a comment!

THE LAST ANSWER: There are many pairs of countries and their capital cities that share their names with New York municipalities. They include Athens, Greece; Rome, Italy; Stockholm, Sweden; Copenhagen, Denmark; Amsterdam, Holland; Lima, Peru and Warsaw, Poland. If you want to debate about others that come close -- I was sympathetic to Edinburg (Saratoga County) and New Scotland (Albany County) -- send a tweet @JimmyVielkind.

jimmy.vielkind@wsj.com

Write to Jimmy Vielkind at Jimmy.Vielkind@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2020 19:14 ET (00:14 GMT)

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