The report adds to a series of concerns over the financing of the massive project.
The state's plan to upgrade Penn Station through a sprawling redevelopment project could ultimately leave taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars, according toEconomists hired by Reinvent Albany, a government watchdog group, say the project may only raise enough money from commercial leases in the nine new office towers and one residential property to cover nearly half of the estimated $10 billion price tag for Penn Station and eight acres of public space surrounding it.
With such a shortfall, economists say the state will have to look for upwards of $5.9 billion from other sources, including state-backed loans that would ultimately be bankrolled by taxpayers. Leaders of the Empire State Development Corporation, which is managing the project, have said there would be other fees charged to developers, but it hasn’t outlined what they’d be or how much revenue they would generate.
“Unfortunately, there’s no details about how these risks are anticipated to be managed," Fisher said. "And if that’s not baked in up front then what happens in these projects is the taxpayers have to foot the bill in the end."