ALBANY, N.Y. — The Capital District Transportation Authority this morning approved a deal that officials say should have Amtrak passengers catching trains out of a new $53.1 million Rensselaer station in less than a month, the Albany Times-Union reports.
Under the 50-year “occupancy agreement” signed Tuesday by Amtrak President David Gunn, which was on its way to CDTA via courier today, Amtrak is to pay an estimated $430,000 each year toward the station’s operating costs, including $50,000 a year in rent.
Before today, only the $50,000 rent figure had been revealed, raising questions about how CDTA could afford to run the station, whose costs are estimated at $750,000 annually. Although there is commercial office space, the only other known signed tenants are a newsstand, a restaurant and the U.S. Postal Service.
Much of Amtrak’s contribution to the new station’s operating costs will come through its responsibility for building maintenance, utility payments, operation and maintenance of escalators and elevators, security and other expenses at the station, said CDTA Executive Director Dennis Fitzgerald.
With the completion of the lease, the station, which has been under construction since 1999, now should be open within three weeks, Fitzgerald estimated, but the board has not yet set an opening date.
The most recent target for opening was June, but construction delays pushed that into the summer. The lack of an agreement with Amtrak had been blocking an opening in recent weeks.
CDTA has promised to release more details of the agreement and operating budget for the station once the contract is signed by Chairman David Stackrow.