Quote:
Originally Posted by left of center
Isn't there any way to alter the foundation of 222 Riverside in order to squeeze in more tracks? It stands to reason that reinforcing and altering the foundation would be cheaper than full scale demolition, right?
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Cheaper, probably. But in practice, the city and Amtrak would probably want to do this with Other People's Money - get a developer to cover the cost of this work. The best way to do that is to authorize additional FAR so that the developer can make a profit off of his trouble - that means tearing down the building and starting from scratch. The current building is about 1 million SF, but it could go up to 1.5MSF or even 2MSF like One Vanderbilt in NYC.
Ideally the new building would provide plenty of open space beneath, like Citigroup Center or (kind of) 150 N Riverside, and sit on a slender foundation so that a proper column-free concourse, and at least six through tracks, can be built beneath.