15 Penn Plaza
15 Penn Plaza, also known as PENN15 and Vornado Tower, is a planned office tower to be constructed by Vornado Realty Trust on Seventh Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building is designed by Foster and Partners and will contain 430 units on 68 floors and of floor space. Despite only having 68 floors, it is planned to be tall, shorter than the Empire State Building two blocks east. Located opposite Pennsylvania Station, a major transit hub for the Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit, Amtrak and the New York City Subway, the building will include several subway entrances, a new concourse, and a passageway that will link Penn Station with the 34th Street–Herald Square station and the 33rd Street terminal of the PATH train. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2024, with completion expected at the end of the 2020s. History Zoning approval and controversy Anthony and Peter L. Malkin, owners of the Empire State Building, had requested the creation of a 17-block exclusion zone that would prohibit large buildings from being built that would obstruct views of their historic structure and suggested that the proposed skyscraper be limited to in height. They embarked on what The New York Times described as "a fierce public relations, advertising and lobbying campaign" to derail the project. On August 24, 2010, the Malkins asked the New York City Council to deny permission for the construction of the tower because it would alter the skyline and obscure the view of the western side of the Empire State Building. The approvals were also contested by historic preservationists worried about the demolition of the Hotel Pennsylvania, which was on the site of the proposed building. While Manhattan Community Board 5 voted overwhelmingly against the proposed project, the New York City Department of City Planning approved the plan, which would allow the building to be 56% larger than standard zoning rules provide under special regulations that encourage the development of high-density office space near transit hubs. Henry Stern, former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation said the proposed building "could do irreparable harm" to the city. However, Daniel Biederman, president of the 34th Street Partnership joined union and construction officials in saying that "If there's anywhere a building of this size and bulk should be built, it's at Penn Station. As part of the approval process, Vornado agreed to undertake $100 million in transit-related improvements that would reopen the "Gimbels passageway", which was blocked off in 1986 and would reconnect Penn Station to Herald Square at Sixth Avenue and the 34th Street–Herald Square station () and the 33rd Street terminal of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) train, which provides access to Hoboken–33rd Street, Journal Square–33rd Street (via Hoboken) and Journal Square–33rd Street trains. An updated passageway would be built to the standards of "the elegant and efficient passageways at Grand Central and Rockefeller Center" and would also have integrated access