(rshsdepot) Brattleboro, VT

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Rutland Herald.
 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
_http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/_ 
(http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/)  
 
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Brattleboro buys waterfront parcel for  $625k

June 5, 2006

By DANIEL BARLOW BRATTLEBORO — The town paid $625,000 for a piece of  
downtown, waterfront property this week, clearing the way for the long-awaited  
development of an Amtrak station as part of a multimillion dollar transportation  
project.  
Brattleboro officials closed on the deal Tuesday with Douglas Wood and Robert 
 Wood, two brothers who have had their businesses located at the site for 
nearly  30 years. The property was the last of the major acquisitions the town 
needed  for the $4.3 million project.  
The town had first offered $300,000 for the land, but recent property  
reappraisals saw the value increase to $550,000 since negotiations first began  on a 
sale, according to Town Manager Jerry Remillard. The additional $115,000 to  
cover the sale came from the town`s miscellaneous capital grant fund, he said. 
 
Renovation and new construction for the train station is the final part of  
the town`s multimodal transportation project, which also included the  
construction of a nearby parking garage and a walkway and bridge crossing a  small 
downtown brook.  
``We`re looking forward to getting this project going, which will be great  
for Brattleboro,`` Remillard said Friday. ``The project has taken a while to 
get  going, but everyone has been patient.``  
In its heyday, the station connected Brattleboro to Springfield, Boston and  
Montreal, and was the hub of activity after it opened in 1849. As many as 18  
trains a day stopped there and the station was even mentioned in the 1939  
Academy Award-nominated Bettie Davis film, ``Dark Victory.``  
The station closed down in 1966 after the construction of Interstate 91, and  
its main building was renovated into the town`s museum. Now, only a handful 
of  Amtrak trains stop at the station.  
Douglas Wood, who owned Wood`s Auto and Truck Repair at the site, said Friday 
 he was relieved the sale finally had gone through. He closed his shop 
several  months ago and said he soon will begin looking at new job opportunities.  
Robert Wood, the owner of the former Bob`s Service Center at the site, moved  
to Florida several years ago.  
``The whole thing has been rather anticlimatic,`` Douglas Wood said. ``It was 
 difficult not having a timeline for a while.``  
Remillard said the designs for the renovated station soon will undergo a  
final review before a bid for the work goes out, with an eye for first  
construction in the late winter. At the earliest, full work on the project would  start 
in spring 2007.  
The real cost of the project still may be a mystery, however. Remillard said  
current estimates are several years old.  
``The cost of materials certainly has gone up in recent years,`` he said.  
The sale of the land does not mean the end of a lawsuit over the project.  
The Wood brothers, represented by attorney James Maxwell of Brattleboro, sued 
 the town several years ago claiming that advertisements and promotion for 
the  project hurt their businesses by creating the impression that the land 
already  had sold and the shops closed, according to court documents.  
That lawsuit is pending in Windham Superior Court in Newfane.  



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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1373
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org