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ANOTHER TWIST IN THE FUTURE OF MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

In a surprising twist, Madison Square Garden, which was believed to have secured a new ten year permit to continue operating at its current location, was only granted a five year permit today by the New York City Council.

“Today, the City Council is channeling the voices of millions of New Yorkers who are fed up by the current state of Penn Station,” Councilman Erik Bottcher told The New York Daily News. “By granting Madison Square Garden a five-year special permit, we’re setting a clock that will help bring all the stakeholders to the table to fix Penn Station now. For the first time in decades, we have the opportunity to truly create a great Penn Station. That opportunity is here. We cannot afford to wait any longer.”

This was below the recommended ten years that the Department of City Planning had publicly disclosed as part of an agreement that MSG works to make sure their building and property are compliant with the changes and modernization done to the train station.   FOX 5 in NYC had reported that MSG is willing to work with the city to help make that process happen.  There has been a TON of construction in and around MSG and Penn Station over the last year.

As we noted previously, there had also been a push to have the Garden's 4,500 seat theater (formerly the Felt Forum) removed as part of the changes.  That venue used to host closed circuit WWF events as well as having hosted live events over the years for WWE NXT, WCW and GLOW.  There are some opposed to that move, feeling that the money needed to pay MSG owner James Dolan for the destruction of that part of the property would be too costly.  But, the belief is that eventually, the Theater or a taxiway between MSG and Penn Station will eventually be take over for Penn reconstruction.

MSG has not commented on today's events.

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