[OKC] FW: [PassRailOK, TX, KS] Oklahoma City Depot Lease/ Wichita Legislative Agenda

[Shauna Struby]

From: sfrr at aol.com [mailto:sfrr at aol.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 9:49 AM
To: EvanStair at PassengerRailOK.org
Subject: [PassRailOK,TX,KS] Oklahoma City Depot Lease/ Wichita Legislative
Agenda

 

Good Morning,

We hope everyone is enjoying their Holiday Season.  This is some good news
out of Oklahoma City.  It comes on the heels of an announcement that the
City of Wichita has placed Amtrak expansion on their 2011 legislative
agenda.

Evan Stair
Executive Director
Passenger Rail OK, TX, KS/North Flyer Organization
www.PassengerRailOK.org
www.PassengerRailKS.org
www.NorthFlyer.org

============================================================================
===

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-agency-gains-control-of-santa-fe-train-depot-with
-new-lease/article/3525505 

 


Oklahoma agency gains control of Santa Fe Train Depot with new lease 


 

BY STEVE LACKMEYER Oklahoman 

Published: December 21, 2010

Officials with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation say they’ve
completed an agreement with owners of the Santa Fe Train Depot that should
prevent any further lockouts of Heartland Flyer passengers.

 

Depot owner Brent Brewer locked the doors twice during the week leading up
to the annual OU-Texas game in Dallas, causing travelers on Amtrak’s
Heartland Flyer to be diverted to vans and buses.  At the time Brewer
complained state transportation officials had failed to respond to his
repeated efforts to draw up a new lease agreement between the two sides.
"Once we got everybody in a room and saw what everybody’s needs were, we
worked something out,” Brewer said Friday. “We’re looking forward to a great
future.”

 

The new agreement provides the state with control of both the passenger
depot and parking lot for 25 months with two five-year renewal options, said
Mike Patterson, ODOT deputy director.

 

The monthly rent will total $15,297 a month. Brewer Entertainment will
continue to operate the parking lot on behalf of the state until an
evaluation of the property’s long-term use is determined, said David Streb,
director of engineering.

 

“This allows us the opportunity to look at whether we want to put a
ticketing office in there and set it up more as a train station,” Streb
said. “Now it’s being used more as a walk-through to the train.” Streb said
the first goal was to get control of the station as the state continues
talks with Kansas about a possible northern extension of the Heartland Flyer
line and the city looks at possible sites for a transit hub as part of a
future streetcar system.

 

“We have a lot of planning-type studies going on and nobody’s crystal ball
can determine yet what’s best,” Streb said.

 

For the same reason, Patterson said he is uncertain whether the state will
continue to lease a parking lot to Brewer that is located across the street
from the depot. “It’s up for renewal in 2012,” Patterson said. “We’re going
to look at what the opportunities are as to whether to renew it for another
five years or do competitive bidding.”

 

About Details of agreement

The Santa Fe Train Depot was boarded up when President Jimmy Carter ended
Amtrak passenger rail service to Oklahoma in 1979. The late Jim Brewer
bought the station in 1998 for $374,667 as the state was progressing in its
efforts to restore passenger rail traffic. Brewer was provided a $1 million
federal grant to renovate the station, and he agreed to provide access to
Amtrak passengers under a temporary agreement that waived rent but charged
the state for utilities and costs associated with use of the station. 

The agreements:

 

•The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is paying $20 a square foot, or
$15,297 a month, for the passenger station and parking lot at the Santa Fe
Train Depot. The department is continuing “on an interim basis” to use
Brewer Entertainment to operate the parking lot with the two parties
splitting revenues 50/50. 

 

•A lease between the Transportation Department and Brewer Entertainment
continues for a parking lot located across the street from the train depot.
The lease for the state-owned lot requires 25 percent of revenues go to
taxpayers, with Brewer Entertainment keeping 75 percent. Since the lease
began in 2004, payments to taxpayers for the lot have totaled $90,176.


Read more:
<http://newsok.com/oklahoma-agency-gains-control-of-santa-fe-train-depot-wit
h-new-lease/article/3525505#ixzz18lEa7sBg>
http://newsok.com/oklahoma-agency-gains-control-of-santa-fe-train-depot-with
-new-lease/article/3525505#ixzz18lEa7sBg

 
<http://newsok.com/oklahoma-agency-gains-control-of-santa-fe-train-depot-wit
h-new-lease/article/3525505#ixzz18lEOULCl> 


 

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: winmail.dat
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 8078 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sustainableokc.org/pipermail/okc-sustainableokc.org/attachments/20101221/2448d8b5/attachment.bin>