GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A former Amtrak station in Grand Rapids is for sale, but if you’re interested in buying, be prepared for a big dent in your budget.
The news site Mlive.com reports the building, on a 0.6 acre lot, is being offered for $1.5 million by developer Jonathan Bryant of the firm Underground Building Maintenance. He bought the building from CSX Transportation for $350,000 in 2021.
The market for the property is likely to increase thanks to the nearby construction of the Acrisure Amphitheater, a $184 million, 12,000-seat outdoor entertainment facility projected to open in 2026. Bryant told Mlive he had inquiries from people who want to buy the land to make it a parking lot, but aren’t ready to buy now and have to wait until the amphitheater opens to start seeing a return on their investment.
The station was replaced in 2014 by the Vernon J. Ehlers Station, a rail and bus facility about a third of a mile from the older facility at 431 Wealthy St. Southwest.
Not architecturally significant.
Neither is the eyesore Amtrak station in the only Michigan city larger than Grand Rapids. I’m referring of course to Detroit New Center.
While I’m at it, am I the only one to notice that almost every Amtrak station in Wisconsin is actually quite beautiful? Ditto Glenview, Illinois, and St. Paul, Minnesota, both of them on an Amtrak route serving Wisconsin.
Give it to the local fire department for “practice”…
I always thought that building looked like an undecorated Long John Silvers restaurant.
My vote was Howard Johnson’s.
LOL. That isn’t a station, that’s an Amshack.