(rshsdepot) Re: Sacramento, CA station

[CoolGuy127_@_aol.com]

    The attached article from the Sacramento Bee reports on a visit by people 
-From Sacramento to Washington Union Station and their observations on how the 
very successful experience in Washington can be duplicated in Sacramento.

        Daniel Chazin
        Teaneck, NJ

http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local06_20010520.html

Union Station success a model: Sacramento officials are dazzled by the D.C. 
depot's renewal.
By David Whitney
Bee Washington Bureau 
(Published May 20, 2001)

WASHINGTON -- Midafternoon is slack time at Union Station, but the grand 
halls still are bustling. The din of commerce echoes from high-arched 
ceilings that harken back a century to an opulent era when trains were at the 
top of the transportation hierarchy. Over a distant speaker, an announcer 
calls passengers to Amtrak's popular Metroliner train, which leaves hourly 
for New York City, but there is no evident rush toward the train platforms.

Most people are not here because they are going somewhere. Union Station is 
their destination, a shopping mall with 130 stores and restaurants.

This is where Sacramento officials have found inspiration for the city's 
downtown train depot. They say the Mediterranean-style depot at Fifth and I 
streets, with its burnt-orange brick facade and cathedral-style windows, is a 
diamond in the rough, just as Washington's now dazzling landmark was before 
the right alchemy was found to turn it into a crown jewel for the nation's 
capital.

"Union Station is a very good model," said Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, 
who was in Washington earlier this month with other city officials and toured 
the station for ideas.

Fargo said the way in which developers seamlessly melded new construction and 
the historic Union Station is something she would like to replicate in 
restoring the old Sacramento depot, which is listed on the National Register 
of Historic Places. On Tuesday, the Sacramento City Council is expected to 
take the first formal steps toward that goal.

"They extended the new part onto Union Station in a way that complements it 
and doesn't compete," Fargo said. "What strikes me most when I'm there is the 
level of activity. It's such a hub. It buzzes with enthusiasm and excitement. 
People are in the mood for adventure when they are there. That's the kind of 
mood I'd like us to have in our downtown."

Union Pacific attorney Roy Brewer said he agrees Union Station is "a great 
model" for a multiple-use depot that could be "a destination for people other 
than just the traveler, a place Sacramentans want to take people to show it 
off."

Fargo said Sacramento's plan would involve building an annex or concourse on 
the back side of the depot, but the design is in flux. Also not firmly 
decided is whether the existing tracks would be moved a block north in order 
to accommodate a larger annex with more shops and restaurants, airy waiting 
areas and more open spaces.

"This is probably the most important planning decision the city has before it 
right now," Fargo said.

Councilman Steve Cohn, the council's leading transportation expert, said the 
concepts that have made Union Station a success are "something that would 
make sense for us in Sacramento."

It would be preposterous to think that Sacramento could convert its much 
smaller brick-and-mortar depot into something as grand as the Romanesque 
granite and marble Union Station, he said. But by borrowing some of the 
design principles, Cohn said, the Sacramento depot could become the gateway 
to a transportation center that also serves as a draw to downtown office 
workers, city dwellers and tourists.

Fargo has gotten railroad officials and preservationists to agree to maintain 
the old depot as the grand entrance to an "intermodal" transportation center, 
a place where trains, buses and light rail would converge. Union Pacific and 
Amtrak officials previously said they wanted a new station north of the 
depot. Preservationists opposed that.

-From the rear of the depot, an enclosed annex would be added, perhaps using 
lots of glass and maybe including a second story flanking a central corridor. 
The annex would focus on a view to the north and the old railroad shops that 
would be converted into a train technology museum. That view would complete 
the "feel" of the new complex's connection to its historic setting.

Along one side of the annex, a light-rail station would be constructed, and 
in a place yet to be determined a new bus-loading area would be built so that 
idling buses are convenient, but out of the way of pedestrians and other 
traffic. The effect would be to leave the I Street entrance open and 
uncluttered, drawing in pedestrians to the eateries, watering holes and shops 
in the complex.

"The historic depot has to be part of the intermodal station," said 
Councilwoman Lauren Hammond. "There's no way it should be separated. We can't 
ignore our history. We should celebrate it."

The idea of moving the tracks north a block is controversial.

Many preservationists argue the tracks should remain in their historic 
position. Some have raised concerns about moving the tracks and forcing 
passengers to walk much farther, separating them from the downtown core.

But Cohn, who believes strongly that the tracks need to be moved, said Union 
Station proves that distance is not an obstacle when there are shops and 
restaurants to give commuters something to do while they wait.

"The key is not how far we're moving the tracks," he said. "The key is how 
passengers get to them."

Initially, planners thought that an open-air plaza between the old depot and 
the new train concourse might be the way to go.

But Fargo and Cohn said the magic of Union Station is that everything is 
protected from the weather in a seamless structure that has the rich feel of 
historical significance.

"Now, we are starting to appreciate the notion that we need an extension of 
the depot, an annex, that is indoors," Cohn said. "And by having the retail 
space, you generate revenues to help pay for the restoration."

That certainly has been the experience at Union Station, said Bob Mauer, vice 
president of Jones Lang LaSalle, which helped redevelop the station and is 
the leasing agent.

"The No. 1 reason people come to Union Station is not to take a train or bus, 
but to eat," he said. "We have one of the highest sales-per-square-foot of 
any retail outlet in the country. We are 98 percent occupied, and we have a 
list of people who want to be in Union Station."

But as in Sacramento, Union Station's redevelopment had its detractors.

"The majority of people were naysayers to this project," Mauer said. "They 
thought it would fail miserably, that it would never sustain itself.

"But within a year it was turning a profit. And I think everyone was amazed 
that a train station so fallen into disrepair could be restored into an urban 
center and have such economic vitality."
 
 

------------------------------