(rshsdepot) Stationhouse Gamble

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

Here's a story which may be of interest from Governing magazine.

It may be easier to read online.  You'll find it at:
http://www.governing.com/4train.htm

Stationhouse Gamble

Restoring an old railroad terminal can be a great way to jumpstart downtown=20
renewal. It can also be a money pit.

BY ZACH PATTON

Planners in Kansas City, Missouri, are beginning to think that the money the=
y=20
invested in fixing up their 87-year-old train station was money well spent.=20
They=E2=80=99re a little nervous, though, and they ought to be. Renovating t=
he=20
long-vacant Beaux-Arts landmark, reopened in 1999 as the centerpiece of=20
downtown revival, cost a quarter of a billion dollars. Much of that money=20
came out of taxpayers=E2=80=99 wallets, earmarked by means of a regional sal=
es tax=20
increase.The indicators are looking good. More than 1.3 million people showe=
d=20
up the first year to visit the building=E2=80=99s interactive science museum=
,=20
planetarium and laser-light show, see a concert or try out the theme=20
restaurants and stores. Two local businesses lease space in the building, an=
d=20
the place is rented for conventions, civic celebrations and weddings.But the=
=20
promoters of the revival aren=E2=80=99t declaring victory yet. They know too=
 much=20
about the fragility and riskiness of the whole station renovation idea.=20
=E2=80=9CThese kinds of things are not for the faint-hearted,=E2=80=9D says=20=
Kansas City=20
Union Station CEO Turner White, =E2=80=9Cbut they can have tremendous benefi=
ts for=20
the cultural quality of life of a city.=E2=80=9DMany planners cite the trium=
phs of=20
New York=E2=80=99s Grand Central and Washington, D.C.=E2=80=99s Union Statio=
n as an impetus=20
for similar rail renaissance projects across the country. But the era of=20
station renewal has also produced some failures. The rebuilt structures are=20
nearly always jewels of historic preservation, but they can also be white=20
elephants: Once the buildings are entered in the National Register of=20
Historic Places, cities essentially are obligated to maintain them,=20
regardless of cost or commercial viability. The effort can bring a city=20
priceless benefits, but it is also difficult and extremely expensive, and=20=
=E2=80=94=20
as more than one official has noted =E2=80=94 it never really ends.Indianapo=
lis=20
demonstrates the problem. That city=E2=80=99s rail terminal, opened in 1888,=
 was=20
America=E2=80=99s first true =E2=80=9Cunion station=E2=80=9D =E2=80=94 multi=
ple rail lines converging at a=20
central hub. After peaking in the 1920s, rail traffic declined until the=20
station finally closed in 1979, and the city began shopping for a developer.=
=20
Seven years and over $50 million in renovations later, Indianapolis=E2=80=
=99 Union=20
Station reopened as a festival marketplace with an adjoining hotel.Financed=20
through federal grants, city loans and private funds, the Union Station=20
entertainment complex was regarded as the harbinger of redevelopment on=20
Indianapolis=E2=80=99 neglected south side. In the first year, 14 million vi=
sitors=20
flocked to the nightclubs, shops and theme restaurants at the urban mall.=20
Less than a decade later, however, Union Station had again closed its doors:=
=20
The crowds had dwindled, and the tenants had all moved out. =E2=80=9CIt was=20=
a money=20
pit,=E2=80=9D says Evert Hauser, the city=E2=80=99s project manager for the=20=
station.After=20
the second closing in 1997, maintenance of the structure cost Indianapolis=20
$100,000 per month. More than $9 million in repairs were required to replace=
=20
what Hauser calls the cosmetic =E2=80=9CBand-Aid fix-ups=E2=80=9D of the fir=
st=20
revitalization effort. Problems such as an inadequate gutter system and leak=
y=20
skylights had to be dealt with before any further redevelopment could even b=
e=20
considered.The experience in Indianapolis mirrored the failure of a similar=20
festival mall project at Cincinnati=E2=80=99s Union Terminal, which lasted l=
ess than=20
eight years before closing in 1988. The price tags of these projects =E2=80=
=94=20
Cincinnati spent over $20 million in public and private funds =E2=80=94 have=
 led some=20
city planners around the country to question whether restoration of the=20
structures is worth the cost, the headaches and the energy. A station, says=20
Hauser, =E2=80=9Cis a pretty inflexible space. Even if you fixed it up as mu=
ch as you=20
could, it would still be C-grade space. It=E2=80=99s never going to be grade=
- -A space.=E2=80=9D

Notwithstanding all that, station fix-up projects continue to be popular wit=
h=20
many local governments, and it=E2=80=99s not hard to see why. =E2=80=9CTrain=
 stations have a=20
lot of resonance in terms of collective memory,=E2=80=9D says Hank Dittmar,=20=
president=20
of the Great American Station Foundation. =E2=80=9CAs a symbol of revitaliza=
tion,=20
there=E2=80=99s really no better. Train stations are typically at the heart=20=
of the=20
city, and renovating them is a public way to show a city=E2=80=99s commitmen=
t to its=20
downtown. And that demonstration of public faith catalyzes urban=20
growth.=E2=80=9DDittmar=E2=80=99s five-year-old foundation, based in Las Veg=
as, New Mexico,=20
works with communities to make station reuse projects successful. Funded by=20
private and corporate donations and through membership dues, the foundation=20
is dedicated to restoring and preserving rail terminals through grants,=20
information networking and the Most Endangered Stations Program, which=20
highlights the terminals across the country in greatest need of preservation=
.=20
Although the foundation focuses on those stations that maintain some=20
transportation element in the renewal, its efforts have a broader impact tha=
n=20
that. Dittmar=E2=80=99s group produces a guidebook on station revitalization=
 and a=20
=E2=80=9Chow-to=E2=80=9D manual for adaptive reuse of stations, and it also=20=
hosts yearly=20
rail revitalization seminars.Adaptive-reuse advocates emphasize that there=20
are right ways and wrong ways to do the station fix-up process. Geography=20
matters =E2=80=94 a building that=E2=80=99s located even a few blocks from t=
he heart of town=20
may have trouble drawing crowds. And the attractions inside can=E2=80=99t ju=
st be=20
curiosities. They have to be strong enough to bring locals back once the=20
novelty wears off. Terry Sweeney, the real estate development director for=20
the city of Indianapolis, concedes that while planners may have considered=20
Union Station a centerpiece of that city, geographically and economically=20=
=E2=80=9Cit=20
was an island. There was no reason to go back to the festival marketplace=20
after a while. You need the right type of use that=E2=80=99s going to bring=20=
people=20
back.=E2=80=9DFinding the right use is a tricky proposition for big cities a=
nd small=20
ones alike. Joliet, Illinois, is a town of barely 80,000 people, but it has=20
an impressive terminal building, designed by Jarvis Hunt, the architect of=20
the station in Kansas City. The city bought the building in 1986, when it wa=
s=20
crumbling, and began what would be a $6.5 million restoration effort =E2=80=
=94=20
relatively ambitious for a town of Joliet=E2=80=99s size. When the project w=
as=20
complete in 1991, the city waited for retail tenants to come, but they never=
=20
did. Ten years later, they still haven=E2=80=99t.On the other hand, Joliet h=
as been=20
creative enough to keep the project from becoming a total disaster. =E2=80=
=9CAt=20
first, while we were focusing on retail and specialty stores, we kept turnin=
g=20
down requests to rent the place out,=E2=80=9D says Jim Haller, Joliet=E2=80=
=99s director of=20
community and economic development. Ultimately, Haller says, they decided=20
single-event bookings were a lot better than nothing. Joliet Union Station i=
s=20
now rented for banquets, conferences, trade shows, weddings, car expos and=20
high school proms. The building is also home to several county government=20
offices. It=E2=80=99s a far cry from the city=E2=80=99s initial plan, but as=
 Haller=20
explains, =E2=80=9Cwe=E2=80=99re very flexible =E2=80=94 we just want to be=20=
able to cover our=20
expenses.=E2=80=9DIndeed, flexibility may be the most important element of a=
ll. And=20
cities gradually seem to be realizing it. In the past decade or so, railroad=
=20
stations have been converted into municipal offices in Louisville, Kentucky,=
=20
and Collierville, Tennessee; hotels in Chattanooga and Nashville; a bank in=20
Albany, New York; and loft apartments in Memphis. After its failure as a=20
mall, Cincinnati=E2=80=99s Union Terminal was reborn as a museum of natural=20=
history,=20
and the station in Omaha is a museum as well. The terminal in Tacoma,=20
Washington, is now a federal courthouse, while Anchorage, Alaska, and Fargo,=
=20
North Dakota, saw their stations become microbreweries.Sometimes a festival=20
marketplace turns out to be a failure, as it did in Cincinnati and=20
Indianapolis, but sometimes the idea works. The festival mall at the old St.=
=20
Louis station, a $150 million project opened in 1985, has done well,=20
reminding visitors of similar spaces at Faneuil Hall in Boston and=20
Harborplace in Baltimore. Steven Miller, a managing partner of St. Louis=20
Station Associates, calls the project =E2=80=9Cthe stone in the pond=E2=80=
=9D of the city=E2=80=99s=20
urban renewal. It sees more annual visitors than the Arch, the zoo or the=20
Cardinals.It was an appreciation of the need for flexibility that ultimately=
=20
led Indianapolis to the current incarnation of that city=E2=80=99s terminal.=
 After=20
the festival marketplace closed in 1997, the city committed itself to=20
repairing the damaged structure and to striking a diverse mixture of tenants=
.=20
Today, Union Station houses a banquet and catering facility, but also=20
includes an alternative school for at-risk students and a European-style=20
go-kart center geared to corporate retreats.This combination of tenants is=20
certainly nontraditional, and it=E2=80=99s clearly not a blend that a city c=
ould ever=20
plan for. But, in the view of an increasing number of economic development=20
specialists, it=E2=80=99s the type of thinking that is mostly likely to bree=
d success=20
in the long run.In short, cities are realizing that if they simply perform=20
the fix-up work and then become complacent, they are asking for trouble, no=20
matter how lavish the restoration job may be. =E2=80=9CYou have to reinvest=20=
and=20
reinvent yourself periodically,=E2=80=9D says Terry Sweeney in Indianapolis.=
 =E2=80=9CFive=20
or 10 years from now, tastes change, and you have to adapt.=E2=80=9DHauser,=20
reflecting on nearly 15 years of difficult experience, agrees. =E2=80=9CWe a=
ren=E2=80=99t=20
done,=E2=80=9D he says. =E2=80=9CWe never will be.=E2=80=9D Then he adds a t=
ongue-in-cheek reminder=20
of the ultimate instability of these ambitious projects: =E2=80=9CHopefully,=
=E2=80=9D he=20
says, =E2=80=9Cwe=E2=80=99ll be breaking even in about three years.=E2=80=
=9D
   =20

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