(rshsdepot) Phoenix, AZ

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Arizona Republic.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
City talks of train station  rebirth

Angela Cara Pancrazio Downtown landmark eyed for shopping, dining  
For more than two decades, the city has eyed the potential of Phoenix`s Union 
 Station. With all of its space and its Mission Revival architecture, the 
1923  rail-passenger center could be a city centerpiece filled with shops, 
restaurants  and artists, officials have proposed.  
That vision never came to fruition.  
The last train carrying passengers pulled out of the station in the  
mid-1990s. In recent years, the station has been inaccessible to the public.  There`s 
a security fence ringing the building because Sprint owns it and stores  
equipment in it. But lately, with the renaissance of downtown Phoenix,  Sprint and 
the city`s Historic Preservation Office are talking about what is the  best 
use for the building.  
``Now there`s momentum for something to happen,`` said Barbara Stocklin, the  
city`s historic preservation officer.  
From the beginning, Phoenix`s Union Station was designed to be a high-profile 
 building in the city`s core, Stocklin said.  
``Downtown is at a crossroads and Sprint is at a crossroads - that`s always  
good,`` Stocklin said.  
``If Sprint`s interested in doing something else, it`s good timing.``  
Sitting on Harrison Street at Fourth Avenue, the station borders the  
southwestern fringe of downtown`s warehouse district. Over the past several  years, 
the district has slowly reinvented itself with a handful of galleries,  
restaurants and lofts.  
``You could do just about anything with the station,`` Stocklin said.  
It could be restored for its original use, she said, as a commuter rail  
station and a transportation hub with buses and taxis.  
Four hundred and seventy-five feet long and 110 feet at its widest, the  
station has the potential to become a destination place, said Brian Kearney of  
the Downtown Phoenix Partnership, and could easily be a home for restaurants, a  
museum, galleries and retail.  
Many Union Stations across the country have been demolished, but just as many 
 cities have found ways to renovate and reuse the buildings. The name - Union 
 Station - was created as a common name when the Southern Pacific railroad 
and  the Santa Fe railroad consolidated their passenger depots into one 
``union``  station.  
Examples of how cities that have adaptively reused their stations are:  
• Kansas City`s Union Station is a science museum and Amtrak terminal, and  
has restaurants and shops.  
• St. Louis`s Union Station has a light-rail stop outside and has a shopping  
mall and hotel.  
• Temple, Texas, has converted its rail station into a transportation museum  
and Amtrak stop.  
• Dallas` Union Terminal is now a transportation center for Amtrak, light  
rail and commuter rail.  
• Los Angeles` Union Passenger Terminal still services Amtrak, as well as  
heavy commuter rail, and has restaurants and shopping.  
• Tucson`s rail station is now an Amtrak stop, museum and retail center.  
• Flagstaff`s rail station is now an Amtrak stop, regional tourist bureau and 
 car-rental station.  
Many of these conversions, Stocklin said, have been accomplished with federal 
 transportation enhancement funds, a required set-aside program from federal  
highway dollars since 1991.  
These dollars are still available, Stocklin said, and could potentially be  
used for a conversion of Phoenix`s Union Station as well.  
Phoenix`s is on the city`s Historic Register.  
``The best thing is they`ve (Sprint) maintained the building,`` Stocklin  
said. ``They`ve been the steward of the building.`` 

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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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