Convention Center: A Case for 34th St.
To the Editor:
While the Port Authority in its recently released feasibility study states that the 34th Street railyards are an excellent site for the home of New York City's desperately needed convention center, it tries to create the impression that Battery Park is also suitable. It definitely is not.
The report states that if the convention facility were to be built at Battery Park City, a new West Side Highway and a minimum of two major hotels would have to be constructed. Are New Yorkers expected to add the $1 billion cost of the West Side Highway, which would take a minimum of ten years to build, plus the costs of the two hotels, to that of a still ill‐conceived convention center in Battery Park? Are 2,000 hotel rooms which will probably never be built expected to compete with 20,000 already constructed and tax‐paying hotel rooms in midtown Manhattan?
The study also states, but does not make obvious, the great disadvantage that Battery Park has in being far from all of the many midtown activities and amenities such as hotels, theaters, restaurants, shops and a majority of cultural institutions. Additionally, the study states that Battery Park City land would cost significantly more than the properly located site at 34th Street in midtown. Hence, the results of the Port Authority study are:
1. That 34th Street is both perfectly located and immediately available for the construction of a convention center.
2. That Battery Park City would likewise be acceptable if the West Side Highway were reconstructed and in operation, a minimum of two major hotel facilities built and the cost of the Battery Park City land substantially reduced from its present level. What the study is actually saying is that a convention center cannot be built at Battery Park City.
New York City needs a convention center and needs it now. Enough time and money have been wasted trying to build an inordinately expensive facility over the water at the tip of a residential neighborhood at West 44th Street--a facility which the Port Authority points out cannot be built. It is time that we concentrate all efforts of building a convention center on the best, simplest and least expensive location so that New York City can finally have its convention facility and be able to compete on an even basis with cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and Houston.
DONALD J. TRUMP New York, June 4, 1976 The writer heads the realty and construction concern that bears his name.