JOHNSTOWN TRAIN STATION REUSE STUDY
Johnstown, PA
The Johnstown Train Station, designed in 1916 by a renowned New York City Architect Kenneth Mackenzie Murchison, had been determined to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The Johnstown Area Heritage Association (JAHA) took ownership of the building in 2010. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) retained a multi-disciplinary professional planning team led by KSK Architects Planners Historians, Inc. with Urban Partners to prepare a Reuse Study for the historic train station. The study is intended to assist PennDOT, the City of Johnstown, and JAHA with identifying economically realistic and implementable reuse options for the train station as a cornerstone for downtown revitalization while enhancing its current role as an Amtrak passenger rail facility.
After conducting an assessment of the local real estate market, Urban Partners identified a range of potentially appropriate alternative uses for the train station, including a fresh food multi-vendor farmers’ market, a coffee bar, one or two restaurants, shops/stands for gift and craft retailers, a visitor’s center kiosk, a culinary training program for the local community college, and a Greyhound bus passenger/
package facility. The project team narrowed the reuse opportunities into three potential options. For each alternative, Urban Partners produced a financial feasibility analysis which detailed the estimated construction costs, income/expenses analysis for on-going operations, a full range of private and public investment requirements necessary for project implementation, and potential revenue streams from reuse components that may support redevelopment.
Before the completion of our study, Greyhound negotiated an agreement with Amtrak to move its former street-side boarding arrangement to the station. JAHA is also negotiating with the community college to implement the culinary program.
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