NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A new 35-year agreement between New Haven, Connecticut, and the New Haven Parking Authority will renovate the century-old New Haven Union Station while adding parking and retail space.
The New Haven Register reports the deal ensures the parking authority will continue to run the state-owned station, as it has since the 1980s, add a new 600-space parking garage, and renovate the first and second floors and basement to create new retail opportunities. The 35-year agreement include two 10-year options, potentially making it a 55-year deal. It seeks to use the station as an anchor for redevelopment of the surrounding area.
The structure, which opened in 1920, was commissioned by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, and designed by Cass Gilbert, whose works include the U.S. Supreme Court Building, New York’s Woolworth Building, and state capitols in Minnesota, Arkansas, and West Virginia. The building was closed in the early 1970s, but was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and reopened following extensive renovations in 1985.
“We’re standing in a national historic gem and this century-old station is not finished yet,” state transportation commissioner Joseph Giulietti said during Tuesday ceremonies to mark the signing of the new agreement.
The station is used by Amtrak, Metro-North, and CTrail trains. More than 425,000 Amtrak passengers passed through the station in fiscal 2020, making it one of the busiest stops in Amtrak’s network.
The New Haven Independent reports that the agreement does not commit a specific dollar amount to the project from any of the parties involved; funding is largely contingent on state bonds, federal grants, and yet-to-be-developed private partnerships.
WFSB-TV reports the deal also includes improvements at New Haven’s State Street Station. That facility, about six-tenths of a mile north of Union Station and just blocks from Yale University, opened in 2002 and is used by CTrail and select Metro-North and Amtrak trains.
I used it on a trip in the 1990’s and thought it was a beautiful station like many early grand RR stations.
Who pays?
Presumably whoever parks in the 600-space garage over the next 35 years.