Trump's hometown train station renovation could be first fruits of South Korean trade deal

One of the first offers to come from South Korea as part of its promised $350 billion investment in the United States is a proposal to back the renovation of an iconic landmark in President Donald Trump’s beloved hometown of New York City. 

The South Korean government and its leading industry association have expressed interest in making significant investments in a complete renovation of New York City’s Pennsylvania Station and developments surrounding the area, Just the News has learned from communications and people familiar with the project.

After taking office, President Trump’s Department of Transportation (DOT) assumed control of the Penn Station renovation, which suffered from high costs and delays under New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority. The DOT said it would seek a public-private partnership to accelerate the deadline and provide a “safer, more reliable” transportation hub for the city.

According to New York State statistics, Penn Station serves 600,000 commuters and travelers every day, and is the busiest transit hub in the Western Hemisphere. In addition, New York City's Tourism Bureau describes nearby "Koreatown" (aka K-Town) as a premier place for visitors to satisfy their K-Pop cravings, and is famous for outstanding Korean food and nightlife, including karaoke.

Restoring American cities

Two weeks after the president announced a new trade agreement with South Korea that included a pledge by the Asian ally to invest $350 billion in America, that country’s leading industry association saw an opportunity to back a project that has become an important symbol for the Trump administration’s efforts to restore American cities.

In a letter sent to the Grand Penn Community Alliance—a group that has developed plans for a major restoration of the station—Federation of Korean Industries Chairman Jin Roy Ryu wrote that his association “could help coordinate Korean commercial interests” if any South Korean partners are chosen to participate in the group’s renovation plans.  

“We may review the opportunity internally with several of our member companies and are open to discussing participation, both as a potential financial partner in the infrastructure redevelopment and as a possible catalyst for commercial real estate development,” Ryu wrote in the August 14 letter. 

A feat of classical architecture

The Grand Penn Community Alliance was founded by hedge fund manager and Trump megadonor Tom Klingenstein to pursue his vision of restoring the iconic and historical facade of Penn Station. The original building, a feat of classical architecture, was demolished in the 1960s to make room for the new Madison Square Garden. New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman said of the old structure that it represented "the architectural embodiment of New York’s vaulted ambition and open arms." He went on to describe "the building that opened in 1910 — its concourse longer than the nave of St. Peter’s in Rome, its creamy travertine quarried, like the ancient Colosseum’s, from Tivoli, its ceiling 138 feet high, its grand staircase nearly as wide as a basketball court — was a “beautiful Beaux Arts fortress,” as the architect Vishaan Chakrabarti has put it."

More buntly, Kligenstein called it “perhaps the greatest act of architectural vandalism in American history.” 

You can read the letter below: 

The Trump backer has been exploring a restoration of Penn Station since 2022 after he was approached by the National Civic Art Society, which is committed to recovering classical architecture in America. This led Kligenstein to form the Grand Penn Community Alliance and formulate plans for a significant renovation project. 

“It was replaced by the current underground Penn Station, which is a disgrace — much-hated by the public, dangerous, inefficient, fit only for rats, as one critic put it. Walking through its low, cramped passageways, you must elbow your way through a thicket of strangers,” Kligenstein wrote in a post to his website in March.

In 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced sweeping plans to renovate the central rail hub in a partnership between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New Jersey Transit, and Amtrak. However, the project was plagued by delays due to tensions between the MTA and its private partner and the Biden administration’s rejection of a federal grant application to fund the project. 

Kligenstein called Hochul’s plans for the station “uninspired” and “depressing.” Those plans, though subject to several iterations, did not include any restoration of the historic pre-1960s Penn Station facade. 

Architect: "Transformation not just of the station but of New York"

In response, Klingenstein’s group developed its own sweeping plans that include rebuilding the historic classical facade, a complete rebuilding of Madison Square Garden to accommodate the new station, and a “towering” above-ground train hall modeled after the original station that would include restaurants and shops, Klingenstein wrote. The project would also include a new public park. 

“Grand Penn would cost about $7.5 billion — expensive, but no more expensive than the current Hochul plan, which does not involve rebuilding Madison Square Garden. Hochul’s plan is so expensive precisely because it requires working around the current Madison Square Garden,” Klingenstein wrote. 

Alexandros Washburn, the Chief Architect of the Grand Penn Community Alliance and former Chief Urban Designer for New York City, told Just the News that the project would represent a "transformation not just of the station but of New York" and would essentially create a new district that would provide an estimated "52,000" permanent new jobs. 

"It feels like this is such a critical moment to bring the momentum back to New York and to America," said Washburn. "Two generations, at least, of New York leaders have been trying and failing to rebuild Penn Station. Now Trump changes everything with a trade deal.”

Washburn said that the Grand Penn Community Alliance proposal is "different than other proposals because it really seeks change," adding that the project matches well with Korean business sensibilities. "They don't just invest, they build," he said. 

A point of pride for South Korea as well

The investment interest from South Korea may be just what the project proposal needs to get off the ground. The Korean government is prepared to invest $15 billion in the project and become the group’s partner in constructing the new station and a new sports arena to replace Madison Square Garden, a source familiar with the project told Just the News. This would also include the construction of a new Grand Korea Tower. 

During the presidential campaign, President Trump called out Democrats for poorly managing the nation’s biggest cities and promised that his future administration would lead an effort to restore them. 

“We’re going to rebuild our cities into beacons of hope, safety, and beauty. It will be the greatest investment ever made,” Trump told a crowd in New Hampshire in December 2023. 

So far, Trump has taken action on the one city he does control directly: Washington, D.C., the constitutionally established federal district that serves as the home of the national government. Earlier this month, the president took direct control of the city’s police department and infused federal resources to combat high crime. The District of Columbia has the fourth-highest murder rate in the nation.

Klingenstein wrote that he believes Trump, as president, is perfect for the restoration plan. 

“Although we have no reason to think he has seen our plan— he is pretty busy these days— we do have reason to think he would like it,” he wrote earlier this year. “We know he wants to fix Penn Station. We know as well that, like the average American, he prefers classical over modern architecture, most of which he thinks is ugly.” 

He added, “The real estate and government parties that have to be convinced to go along are willing to entertain our plan but, of course, we need more; we need their support. And for that, we need the country’s greatest dealmaker.”