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Amphiscian t1_ixdhsx3 wrote

Reply to comment by Wowzlul in Magnificent pictures of New York's old Penn Station before it was demolished, 1910-1963 by Hidethegoodbiscuits

The Oculus is a different story, IMO. Westfield bought the retail rights to the mall at the WTC from the Port Authority for $1.4 Billion. They sure as shit weren't going to make that amount of money back with Pizza Hut Expresses, so they have gone pretty up-scale with the tenants to make money (along with other stuff like packing in kiosks and installing LED advertising screens everywhere they could).

That being said, the company that bought Westfield is apparently trying to dump all their US mall properties, so things may change a lot in the Oculus in the coming years.

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Wowzlul t1_ixdjle8 wrote

Hey fine by me. If we can get a Barnes and Noble and a Starbucks or whatever in there the Oculus will be 10x more convenient as a train station. Local joints are probably a pipe dream but we can at least knock it off with the luxury watches and shit. Could probably get at least a few newsstand type places tho.

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Amphiscian t1_ixdmg4z wrote

Yeah I'm wondering if whoever buys the mall off Westfield will rent it to less high-end places

AFAIK a big part of this weirdness is that there was a more normal mall in the old WTC, and Westfield leased the retail rights to it for 99 years literally a month before 9/11. As part of the rebuilding, at some point it was decided the mall, new PATH station, and connection between every building (plus the World Financial Center) would be combined into one sprawling project.

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Wowzlul t1_ixdoim2 wrote

I'm fine with the sprawling project. It's pretty awesome how well connected lower Manhattan is now.

Problem is that it's just not an inviting space to spend much time in, nor is it useful to you even if you're just passing through.

In for a long PATH ride to Newark Penn and then the airport? The Oculus has nothing for you.

Making a connection during your morning commute? Can't grab a coffee here.

It's purely a tourist attraction, which is fine but like...you'd think for such a huge and beautiful piece of public architecture they'd put things in it other than purely consumerist luxury mall things. Maybe a statue or two? A history exhibit? A library branch? I dunno lots of possibilities.

Fulton Center is a lot more useful but a hell of a lot less inviting.

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Amphiscian t1_ixdrgwm wrote

Definitely not the most inviting public space. I wonder if more things were planned and cut for budget, or if it was more like intentionally not making anywhere for people to lounge because then homeless people might go there. They did somewhat recently throw in some seating at the end of the hallway that leads to 4WTC, but that's a long way from the terminal/central area.

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