Public celebration and awards ceremony to take place at Moynihan Train Hall

Senator Schumer, LISC NYC, and the Moynihan Train Hall Team Honored

June 7, 2022 — New York is on the move again and Open House New York (OHNY), which this year is celebrating two decades of promoting broad public access to the city’s past, present, and future, will hold its Open City Benefit on June 9 at Moynihan Train Hall—a celebratory public gathering within this new front door to New York.

OHNY’s Open City Benefit is a celebration of the city and the power of place. As OHNY marks its expanded mission and 20th anniversary, it will confer the Open City Award along with two newly created honors—the President’s Award and the Building Capital Award—in recognition of outstanding individual and collective efforts to improve and grow our city.

Over the last twenty years, Open House New York has unlocked the city for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and visitors. In this milestone year, there is no better location to celebrate the power of place and New York’s resilience and commitment to bold ideas than Moynihan Train Hall, and we are thrilled to recognize the leadership of Senator Schumer, the Moynihan Train Hall team, and LISC NYC. – Rob Rogers, President of the OHNY Board of Directors

The President’s Award recognizes a person or organization that embodies OHNY’s mission to catalyze a city that is accessible and open to all New Yorkers, through their visionary work and unrelenting commitment to our city.

Happy anniversary Open House New York and congratulations on twenty successful years unlocking doors and inviting the public to experience the people, projects, and places that define this great city. As a proud public servant, and native New Yorker, I know from experience that an informed public fosters greater civic participation, an essential virtue of a vibrant and open city. Thanks to OHNY, New York is indeed open! – Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, recipient of the inaugural President’s Award

Each year, Open House New York recognizes a place of singular importance to the past, present, and future of New York City with the Open City Award. Recipients of this year’s Open City Award is the Moynihan Train Hall design and development team, led by Empire State Development, Vornado Realty Trust, Related Companies, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and Skanska USA. More than a century after the construction of the original Penn Station, and almost six decades after its demolition, the opening of the iconic and uplifting $1.6 billion train hall last year realized a long-held New York dream.

Moynihan Train Hall represents the best of New York State through the development and construction of a 21st Century transit hub that leveraged public funding and private investments, creating a world-class gateway that invites, inspires, and welcomes residents and visitors alike. On behalf of Empire State Development, I’d like to thank Open House New York for recognizing the importance and impact of Moynihan Train Hall with the Open City Award and congratulate OHNY on 20 years of recognizing and promoting New York City’s rich heritage. – Hope Knight, Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner

The Building Capital Award is the first in a series of awards honoring a firm or individual whose work aligns with OHNY’s Urban Systems program, a themed examination of the forces that shape New York City. This year, OHNY is launching Building Capital: The Value of Place, a multiyear investigation into how different forms of capital—financial, cultural, community—determine quality of place and quality of life in New York. LISC NYC is recipient of the inaugural Building Capital Award in recognition of their efforts to increase access to capital in underinvested communities across the five boroughs. 

I am honored to accept Open House New York’s Building Capital Award on behalf of the tireless team at LISC NYC. While there was no neighborhood or business that went unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was underinvested neighborhoods who faced the highest rates of unemployment and business closures and the slowest rates of recovery. We are proud of the work we’ve accomplished in support of the communities that need it most and join with fellow leaders in the community development space in our commitment to ensuring that every New Yorker has access to the financial, cultural, and community capital needed to shape a heightened quality of life. – Valerie White, senior executive director of LISC NYC

The Open City Benefit brings together hundreds of high-profile New Yorkers in design, development, media, and policymaking circles. Proceeds from the Open City Benefit support public programs such as OHNY Weekend, a free, three-day citywide festival held each October that unlocks hundreds of places across the city for in-person and virtual tours and talks. This year’s OHNY Weekend is slated for October 21-23, 2022.

About Open House New York
Open House New York promotes broad, unparalleled access to the city—to the places, people, projects, systems, and ideas that define New York and its future. Through our year-round programming, including the annual OHNY Weekend festival, OHNY offers a citywide platform for education, exploration, and engagement about the connections between quality of place and quality of life for all New Yorkers. The theory of change guiding our work is that an informed public fosters greater civic participation, which in turn catalyzes an open city. Our aim is to ensure every New Yorker can enjoy full access to the greatest city in the world. For more information, visit ohny.org.