Union Station restoration impresses

Dec. 2, 2016 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

The renovation of Union Station in Springfield into a regional transportation hub is getting closer to its conclusion. The top photo shows the main concourse in 2014, while the bottom shows the results of years of effort.
Reminder Publications photos by G. Michael Dobbs

SPRINGFIELD – The transformation at Union Station is startling.    

Just in little over two years, the 1926 rail terminal, long abandoned and deteriorating has been given a new life. The concourse gleams with new plaster and the same color – eggshell – it had in its heyday. The tunnel, long closed and prone to water leaks, that connects the concourse to Lyman Street has been made new.

The original lighting fixtures in the concourse are being restored and the huge clock, a fixture in any train station, will be re-installed. There are areas ready for retails and commercial use.

Christopher Moskal, the executive director of the Springfield Redevelopment Authority (SRA), gave Reminder Publications a tour and update of the work that is underway.

He said the construction is still on target to be issued a certificate of occupancy for late in January 2017.  The leasing of spaces in the structure is now going on and the fist tenants will be finalized next week, Moskal noted.

The SRA is still finalizing a number of conversations with potential tenants.

He took this reporter first to the mezzanine, second and third floors which will be spaces to rent. There is 62,000 square feet of space on these floors and Moskal pointed out how on the second and third floors, which always were offices, the dividing walls have been removed to allow flexibility in building out for tenants.

The sunshine streamed through the many windows, which Moskal sees as a key sales point.

Gong back to the ground floor, Moskal pointed out the new waiting areas for both inter-city bus passengers and Pioneer Valley Transit Authority customers. The waiting areas look out onto the area for the buses. There are 27 bus bays created largely out of the space that was once the baggage and mail buildings.

Moskal pointed out the outdoor PVTA stops even have heaters to make people waiting for buses for comfortable. There will be an electronic sign system altering passengers which bus is coming and when it should arrive.

There is now a new driveway connecting the bus area to Liberty Street and the area that was once Frank B. Murray Street at the station’s entrance is being designed for pedestrians.

The parking garage is one step away from being completed. It has spaces for 377 vehicles.

In the concourse, Moskal noted how a historic display created by the Springfield Museums will recount the history of train travel in the city from the first terminal built in 1851 to the last – Union Station – in 1926. Artifacts from Union Station – a baggage cart, dishes used at the lunch counter, the huge sign that denoted arrivals and departures and a barber chair, among others – are being restored and will be part of the permanent exhibit.

The original terrazzo flooring will also be restored.

In the concourse will be the ticketing for the trains and buses that use the station.

On the Dwight Street side of the concourse, which was once a huge waiting area, will be spaces for retail shops and other uses.

The tunnel connecting the concourse to Lyman Street has restored. All but one of the stairs leading to the track has been sealed and the one that will be used has been widened. A new elevator is being installed.

Amtrak will continue using its present terminal for the time being, Moskal, explained, until necessary work on its platform and tracks is completed.

He expects that when the terminal will really reach its potential in 2018 when the commuter line linking Springfield to Hartford and New Haven, CT, begins.

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