The Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority approved final purchase agreements with the owners of the Union Depot head house, or lobby building, for $8.2 million at its June 2 meeting.

“Today marks the official start of the project to return the Union Depot to what it once was: a transportation hub for Ramsey County, the state of Minnesota and the entire upper Midwest,” said Commissioner Jim McDonough, chair of the Rail Authority. “The multimodal transit hub we are creating at the Depot will provide seamless transfers between transportation modes, including trains, local and interstate buses, cars and bicycles. It will give commuters and visitors better access to St. Paul and Ramsey County job centers, entertainment venues and sporting events. This truly is an exciting day for the entire region.”

The head house, or the lobby portion of the Depot complex facing St. Paul’s 4th Street, houses restaurants, offices and condos. The Rail Authority will purchase of the commercial portions of the headhouse building, the parking structure and the land that the building sits on. Thirty-nine condo units built by the current owner will remain in private hands.

Beyond the headhouse is a 45-foot-wide entrance passage that was built as a bridge over Kellogg Boulevard to connect to the concourse, which provides access to railroad platforms. Ramsey County agreed to purchase the concourse structure and surrounding land from the U.S. Postal Service in October 2007. The Postal Service plans to move its mail-sorting operations in 2010 to an expanded facility now under construction in Eagan. Work continues on preliminary engineering and a federally required environmental assessment of the site.

Many modes of transit will come together at the refurbished Union Depot, including Central Corridor Light Rail, Amtrak passenger rail, Midwest High Speed Rail to Chicago, the Red Rock, Rush Line, Robert Street and I-94 corridors, Greyhound and Jefferson Lines buses, Metro Transit, bicycles and pedestrians.

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