H-S: Durham about to get unshackled from the "Amshack"

Ray Gronberg has a good-news update on the relocation of Durham's Amtrak station from the abysmal double-wide trailer on Chapel Hill St. in today's Herald-Sun.

NCDOT is about to take bids on the construction of a new boarding platform adjacent to West Village's Walker warehouse. Upfit on the space will also begin soon in advance of a targeted March 1 opening.

The City is picking up one-quarter of the cost on the lease -- $41,000 per year -- and will provide the lot used as a downtown streetscape staging area by contractor Triangle Grading and Paving as on-site parking, in addition to the West Village-controlled lot on the east side of Walker.

Of course, at this point in time Amtrak and NCDOT could have just about their run of the Walker warehouse, which has yet any retail tenants move in. On-the-ground sources suggest residential leasing is going well, and office space tenants are close to occupying spaces, all of which increases the attractiveness of the space for retail, naturally.

Below: The Walker Whse., with the Amshack visible at right. (Hat tip to Endangered Durham for the photog.)

Comments

[The Next City Attorney]

Those of us who have been here more than 10 years are well aware the current train station is not the "Amshack." That very appropriate title belonged to the bus canopy (literally) and wooden deck plopped next to the track that used to welcome train passengers to our City. Passengers accessed the shack by climbing (or attempting to climb)railroad tie steps up the steep embankment off of Pettigrew. In fact, I litigated a case on the City's behalf from a trip and fall at the shack. The current double wide does not compare to what was deemed acceptable in this community just a few years ago. I was very pleased that DOT eventually got on board with the fact that the double wide wasn't acceptable either and the City staff did a great job making the case to them over the course of 12-18 months. This will be a fabulous station.

[Luke]

As someone who uses Amtrak pretty frequently, I will be happy to see its station move across the street and adjacent to West Village mostly because I hope that a coffee shop or some other sort of to-go eatery will open which will allow me to avoid paying for the over-priced warmed-over cheeseburgers on the train, itself.

[eah919]

An intriguing nugget from the Herald-Sun:
"Long-term, it's possible the city may allow parking on a portion of the land that now serves as the Durham Area Transit Authority's downtown transfer point.
But decisions on the use of that site are on hold while engineers do a "feasibility and operational study" of what it would take to open the loop to two-way traffic, Ahrendsen said."
Could it be? Someday, could the 'Durham Raceway' be no more?

[Todd]

This will be a welcome change. Considering the quality of train stations in other cities/towns across NC, it's about time Durham moved up to a permanent building. After all, Durham is the 4th largest city in the state, right?