US News

TOWER PLAY AT FARLEY STATION

State officials reviewing a proposal to convert the Farley Post Office into a train station and a home for a new Madison Square Garden said yesterday they want to drop plans to build two enormous office towers on the arena’s current site.

Instead, planners are looking to have the proposed 4.5 million square feet of office space “sprinkled” across the surrounding Midtown neighborhood, said Pat Foye, chairman of the Empire State Development Corp.

The state has been reviewing a proposal by a consortium of developers to create the Moynihan Station inside the Eighth Avenue side of the Farley Post Office, while moving the Garden into the Ninth Avenue side of the postal building.

Developers had proposed building the towers above the site where the Garden now sits, as well as a third tower across the street. The plan included a major renovation of Penn Station.

Foye told members of the New York Building Congress that shifting the office space proposed for the two towers to sites around Penn Station “will mean less disruption to commuters, fewer financial risks, and it will tie the development around Moynihan Station to the demands of the market.”

Foye said the change has the approval of the two developers on the project, the Related Companies and Vornado Realty.

A $900 million plan to convert the post-office building into a new rail station, hotel and retail complex was blocked late last year when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver would not use his vote on the Public Authorities Control Board to give it final approval.

tom.topousis@nypost.com