(The following story by Melissa Domsic appeared on the Lansing State Journal website on July 29, 2010.)
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Plans to redevelop the East Lansing Amtrak station are chugging along as the city continues to seek project funding.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee last week approved $2.5 million in federal funds to construct a new multi-modal transit center at the site of the Amtrak station, 1240 S. Harrison Road.
The more than 35-year-old train station also serves as a bus stop for Greyhound Lines Inc. and Indian Trails Inc. The Capital Area Transportation Authority has a stop on Harrison Road in front of the station.
The appropriation for East Lansing – part of a larger spending bill for bill for the departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and related agencies – was the largest of 10 transportation and housing projects in Michigan that received committee approval. Others included $2 million for a commuter rail between Detroit and Ann Arbor.
The appropriations bill still needs approval from the House and Senate.
The city of East Lansing originally requested $7 million in federal appropriations, said Lori Mullins, the city’s community and economic development administrator.
Still, the smaller amount would help pay for a new building and some circulation improvements, she said. And the city is looking for other ways to fund the rest of the planned $20 million project that would include a parking structure, relocating Michigan State University facilities from the site to campus and improving CATA facilities.
The building was originally built for other uses by MSU, which owns the property.
“The station needs to be redeveloped so badly,” said Debbie Alexander, assistant executive director at CATA. “It’d be great if we could have that facility actually have a windowed front so they could see the station.”
CATA runs the Capital Area Rail Council, which maintains the facility and is funded by local municipalities and public organizations. Amtrak staffs the station.
Chandra Mudaliar, an adjunct visiting professor at MSU, said she’d like to see more secured overnight parking at the station. Mudaliar said she has someone drop her off at the station to board a bus to Traverse City instead of leaving her car there.
“They said it’s safe, and I’m sure it’s safe, but still I don’t want to take any chances,” Mudaliar said.
The city in February learned it would not receive $27 million in federal stimulus grants to fund the entire project. Since then, it’s scaled the project back by reducing the size of the parking structure and finding ways to cut costs for relocating some of the facilities, Mullins said.
East Lansing also plans to apply for $13.5 million in a second round of grants being offered through the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, program.
As a match, the city would contribute about $300,000 in infrastructure improvements on Harrison Road.
MSU, which owns the property on which the station is located, would contribute the property, valued at $3.5 million. Terms have not been negotiated, but MSU could end up leasing the property to the city at a low cost.
Amtrak also may eventually end up building a new train platform that meets requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, said spokesman Marc Magliari.