Portland Union Station for sale

[danasgoodstuff]

From this distance, it's possible to visualize this as a set-up for a big real estate deal involving the former Greyhound block and adjacent Union Station property.

Portland is switching to a new city government system, so it's hard to say how things will work out. My grandfather was on the committee that set up the old system (before WWI), so there were a lot of years since for people to learn how to work the levers.

AORTA, the Oregon rail advocates, just completed a survey of the candidates for the reshaped Portland city council, so the Union Station issue had not come up. One candidate specifically discussed the intercity bus station issue, and here is the statement.

Prosper Portland Purchase of Greyhound Station: It’s unacceptable that intercity riders are forced to wait in the cold and rain along NW Station Way. We should purchase the former Greyhound station currently being used as a homeless shelter. Once we’ve ended unsheltered homelessness and can begin reducing the size of our shelter system we should convert the facility back to transit use. The expansion of the POINT system and other intercity buses means we need to offer a place for intercity bus riders to wait and transfer. Providing a centralized intercity bus station available to be used by future regional express buses and private coaches is essential to becoming a world-class transit city.

(POINT is the marketing name for state-sponsored routes. They load curbside at Union Station by the baggage room.)

Which candidate was that?

 

[Willbridge]

Which candidate was that?

Daniel DeMelo, District 3. He had a lot of comments on transit issues.

 

[Willbridge]

The attached talk is from Ottawa, October 1977, but it has some background on Oregon intermodal terminal issues from my time at ODOT.

 

[PaTrainFan]

Here's another local Portland story with some additional color with a business tenant of the building quoted. He pays less than a $1,000 rent for his space.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/co...tion/283-b05bc9c7-07fd-4b3e-894d-678b4231d09a

 

[west point]

Did this last 5.0 quake shake any bricks loose?

 

[joelkfla]

Here is a TV news interview with someone from Prosper Portland about the sale and renovations. He says 2/3 of the renovation cost (which will probably grow to $300 million or more) is for track and platforms. I don't think he even mentioned seismic upgrades.

https://www.youtube.com/live/yp7O8pGt26o?si=4anpOlKe8wEPixuc

 

[Willbridge]

Here is a TV news interview with someone from Prosper Portland about the sale and renovations. He says 2/3 of the renovation cost (which will probably grow to $300 million or more) is for track and platforms. I don't think he even mentioned seismic upgrades.

https://www.youtube.com/live/yp7O8pGt26o?si=4anpOlKe8wEPixuc

He mentioned the type of structure instead.

The agency that should take on this project is the Port of Portland. I did a walk through with them in the mid-1970's and they kicked it around, but they concluded that there wasn't potential money in it.