Bristol Train Station Now Open For Business

By David McGee
Staff Writer / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: September 18, 2008

BRISTOL, Va. – After going through a 10-year, $5 million makeover, the Bristol train station recently hosted its first events.

The refurbished 106-year-old building has hosted a wedding reception, a Tennessee High School class reunion and a private reception.

“The train station is open for business,” Bristol Trainstation Foundation board member Tom Davenport said. “We’re awfully pleased.”

The nonprofit foundation and both city governments jointly purchased the former Union Depot in 1999. The foundation has spent much of the past decade trying to secure funding to completely restore the structure, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

All that remains is to secure a couple of approvals to complete the transfer of historic tax credits to Regions Bank and a group of private investors, Davenport said.

“All we have left is to get final approval from the [Virginia] Division of Historic Resources in Richmond and the National Park Service. We expect that next week,” Davenport said, adding that state officials have given their blessings to the project.

Under the arrangement, the foundation has entered into a five-year, limited partnership with the investors to secure funding and operate the building. After five years, the foundation will buy out the investors for a nominal amount and solely operate the facility, Davenport said.

During that time, the investors expect to reap the benefits of about $2 million worth of the tax credits in exchange for their financial stake in the property, Davenport said.

“In a very short time, we [foundation] will be debt-free, once the final financing comes in,” Davenport said.

In addition, some $400,000 has been set aside to operate the facility for the next five years.

“I know there have been a lot of questions, especially when it appeared nothing was happening,” Davenport said. “But our foundation wanted to do it and do it right. We didn’t want to bring a not-for-profit project out that was up to its eyeballs in debt. That’s not the right way.”

The renovation work was funded by a combination of federal and state transportation enhancement grants and private donations. The last installments of that funding is scheduled to come in during the next two years.

“This has been a true community effort,” Davenport said. “Everyone in our foundation, the leaders of both cities and communities have labored long and hard and provided the resources to get this thing done. We appreciate all of them.”

The foundation is currently negotiating with Wellmont Health System for the possible lease of one of four available spaces, while fielding numerous inquiries about the others, Davenport said.

This Friday, the train station’s Kegley Hall is scheduled to host Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and the Return to Roots gala, said Brad McCroskey, the foundation’s events coordinator. About 200 people are expected to attend the invitation-only event.

About 20 other events have been booked for the coming months and more are expected, McCroskey said.

“Right now, we have two rooms available. The main hall is 3,000 square feet and another room on the second floor is 1,600 feet,” McCroskey said.

The large space rents for $400 a day plus setup and cleanup, or half the space can be rented for $250. The upstairs space is available for $150 a day or $75 for as long as four hours, McCroskey said.

The building includes a catering kitchen, high-speed wireless Internet and audio-visual capability.

A separate space near the rail platform is dedicated to serve railroad passengers, should that service become available again.

But the possibility of that occurring anytime soon remains remote, said Jim Bowie, a Twin City attorney and member of Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board.

“There is a lot of interest in developing more passenger rail service across the state,” Bowie said in a phone interview. “It looks like the first phase will be from Lynchburg to Richmond to Washington, and the second phase would be to Roanoke. The last phase would probably be to Bristol.”

Surveys indicate ridership in this end of the state would be considerably less than more populated areas – making it less profitable, Bowie said. Given the current financial climate, any effort to greatly expand passenger rail service easily could take 10 years, he estimated.

“The high cost of fuel has prompted more support of passenger rail, but there’s just not much money for transportation [projects] of any kind,” Bowie said.

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