Madison Square Garden Given 10-Year Notice

Anyone even slightly familiar with New York City has at least heard of Madison Square Garden and Penn Station; the former sits atop the latter making it a major destination for many city-goers. But Madison Square Garden now is faced with some controversial news: the Garden has 10 years to vacate the Penn Station premises to make room for renovations. This news comes after a 3-year renovation process by MSG, costing nearly one-billion dollars, in order to make the Garden a bigger and better experience for event attendees.

MSG has been there for 50 years now, after the controversial demolition of the older Penn Station, but the 50-year contract has since expired. In these 50 years the Garden has hosted the New York Rangers, the New York Knicks, and countless touring concerts, but still has not achieved enough for the city to deem it worthy of keep at this location.

According to NYDailyNews the vote was an overwhelming 47-1 in favor of moving the Garden to a different location to be able to renovate and better Penn Station. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn stated on the matter:

We need to make sure Penn Station becomes what we need it to be, a really 21st century grand entrance into the greatest city in the world, not … what Sen. [Daniel] Moynihan or others historically described as a bunch of rat tunnels that lead people in and out of the city every day.