via NHL.com,

The New York City Council has notified Madison Square Garden, the home of the New York Rangers, that its special operating permit has been extended for a decade.

MSG executives had requested the permit would have been extended in perpetuity. The administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg had recommended a 15-year extension.

After the 10 years, the arena will have to be vacated and find a new location, which will be the fifth home since the arena opened in 1879. It has been in its current location for 45 years.

The vote to extend the permit for 10 years passed by 47-1.

City officials want to expand Pennsylvania Station, a major transportation hub that sits underneath the Garden, as well as redevelop the surrounding midtown neighborhood.

Work on a $968 million overhaul of the Garden -- commissioned by James Dolan, who controls the Garden, as well as the Rangers and the New York Knicks -- is expected to be finished this fall.

"Madison Square Garden has operated at its current site for generations, and has been proud to bring New Yorkers some of the greatest and most iconic moments in sports and entertainment," Kim Kerns, a spokeswoman for the Madison Square Garden Co., said in a statement. "We now look forward to the reopening of the arena in the fall of 2013."