ST. PAUL, Minn. — The renovated St. Paul Union Depot marked two milestones in 2018, with more than a million visitors and the leasing of all the facility’s available commercial space.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that both were firsts for the station since completion of its renovation in 2012. The million visitors included not just Amtrak and light rail passengers, but 100,000 who shopped or attended events at the station.
More than $240 million in federal, state, and county money was spent to restore the station. [See “SPUD reborn,” August 2014 Trains.] It is still heavily subsidized, the Star Tribune notes, with about $6 million of its $8.2 million annual budget coming from county rail authority taxes. Parking, bringing in $1.3 million, is its largest revenue source.
But the station is a hub of public events during the holiday season, including an annual Christmas tree lighting and European Christmas market, and also hosts a significant number of private events — just under 400 this year.
