PORTLAND, Ore. — Following years of failed efforts to come up with money for a local match to apply for federal grants to help fund needed upgrades, the city of Portland has renewed efforts to sell Union Station.
Built in 1896 and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975, the station’s signature clock tower features a “Go By Train” sign established atop the structure long before Amtrak took over intercity operations in 1971. It is 10 years older than Seattle’s King Street Station, is the oldest continuously operated rail passenger terminal on the West Coast, and needs some $250 million in track and facility work.
In 1987, the Portland Development Commission, now known as Prosper Portland, purchased the building and 31 acres of land from the Portland Terminal Railroad Co., a consortium of BNSF Railway and Union Pacific.
A MAX light rail service facility adjacent to the station now occupies part of that area. Surrounding real estate was sold to developers for apartments and offices, creating a vibrant commercial area known as the Pearl District. However, money from those sales was not set aside to fund significant capital improvements.
News site Oregon Live reports Amtrak has recently “stepped back” from discussions to buy the property. Prosper Portland spokesperson Shawn Uhlman says “uncertainty about preservation costs and other priorities” were among the likely factors, but talks “did not evolve to a point where a price was agreed to.” He adds, “Prosper Portland is seeking an entity with a strong regional transportation mission who can spearhead a large-scale renovation,” and his organization “is not positioned to lead this work.”
The decision to sell the station follows efforts to pursue Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) and Federal-State Partnership grants. Prosper Portland took step in 2021 and 2022 that would allow it to move forward on a programmatic agreement for final design of the “Portland Union Station Building and Tracks Improvement Project.” The planning grant was for $15 million.
However, in a July 11, 2023, letter obtained by News Wire to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Environmental Protection’s Specialist and the Oregon Department of Transportation’s liaison to the State Historic Preservation Office, project manager Shelly Haack said, “Prosper was unable to achieve FRA’s minimum match requirement ($7.5 million) so those applications were never submitted.”
The Oregon Department of Transportation was awarded a federal grant in 2010 that led to the hiring of consultants and development of an extensive renovation plan, whose details are still available on Prosper’s Union Station website.
The needed upgrades are extensive. They include reinforcing the building and tower, as well as revamping platforms and track layout “in anticipation of 2035 volumes.” Among suggested changes are relocating a pedestrian crossing taking passengers from the central waiting room to the outer platforms.
While the renovation estimate has been pegged at $250 million, the elderly facility needs more than a facelift, so that figure will certainly rise. It is not reasonable to expect any prospective buyer evaluating the property’s commercial revenue potential to fund the rail-related improvements previously outlined.
Nevertheless, Portland Union Station remains a crucial transportation hub hosting Oregon and Washington-sponsored Amtrak Cascades as well as the Empire Builder to Chicago and Coast Starlight to Los Angeles. It also facilitates regional bus and local transit connectivity that feed those services.
The situation illustrates how federal grant requirements can stymie much-needed improvements if communities can’t come up with a local match and other transportation agencies are unable or unwilling to fill the void.
A key, but understated point, is that Portland did not put the property sale proceeds aside to fund needed station and track work.
Off subject ,but god,I almost forgot how ugly the Talgo 8 trains were !
The Boaty McBoatface of locomotives!
“The situation illustrates how federal grant requirements can stymie much-needed improvements if communities can’t come up with a local match and other transportation agencies are unable or unwilling to fill the void.”
Grant requirements are put in place by the Feds to insure local and state agencies, and thus the taxpayers in those jurisdictions, have “skin in the game”. Which in this case, the local and state agencies were not able to fund their 50% requirement. Without local and state participation, taxpayers in every state would be funding a giveaway to favored political entities.