On Tuesday, September 14, 2021, Leon County Commissioners approved the a bid, for $3,449,820, to Ram Construction and Development, LLC for site renovations to the historic Amtrak building.
The Board also approved an agreement with the City of Tallahassee for driveway connections for Bicycle Boulevard and Railroad Avenue, in conjunction with the Amtrak building, to offset the project cost.
In December 2018, the Board approved the sale of the Tourism building and the proceeds from the sale were budgeted for the needed renovations to the historic Amtrak building. The renovations include the permanent relocation of the Division of Tourism and Visitor Information Center to the Amtrak Building. The Amtrak building, constructed in 1858 and originally known as the Jacksonville, Pensacola, and Mobile Railroad Company Freight Depot, is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The budget shortfall for the Amtrak Building Renovation and Site Reconstruction project is $384,535. Based on the bid, the city will provide $134,535 for the shared costs for the new driveway construction and existing driveway modifications. Also, an additional $250,000 is available in the Tourist Development fund balance to fund this project.
In conjunction with this project, the City of Tallahassee has a Railroad Avenue Improvement Project between Gaines Street and FAMU Way. The goals are enhancing safety, increasing pedestrian connectivity, improving access management, and beautifying the corridor.
Due to the impacts of the Railroad Avenue Improvements project on the Amtrak site, the county consulted with the city. The agreement with Leon County calls for the the city to reimburse the county for the shared costs of the driveway connections and existing driveway modifications included in the scope of work of the Amtrak Building bid.
Ram Construction and Development, LLC was the lowest bid. Renovations are anticipated to commence by early November and take approximately eight months to complete.
Leon County Approves $3.4 Million in Renovations for Historic Amtrak Building added by Lynsey Kirk on
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@Edward Lyle reading is fundamental. They sold the building and relocated it to the amtrack station. the money from the sale was used to renovate the old amtrack station.
Waiting for Amtrak to come back.
To have the visitors center there is a perfect fit.
Why can’t we jjust have Amtrak back? I took a train outa there once. I’d do it again if they still ran.
@ David… No, there is not and will not be enough room to accommodate both enterprises. They will simply pretend that they did not think about that, say it’s too late the change the plans now, blame and fire the guy who cleans the bathrooms on the third floor… then proclaim that they must spend millions upon millions to build a brandy-new train station in order to bring catrillions and blazillions of dollars in “economic impact” (insert wink here) to the city and county.
… rinse and repeat… rinse and repeat…
” The renovations include the permanent relocation of the Division of Tourism and Visitor Information Center to the Amtrak Building” ………….. Question: There has been talk of bringing the Train Service back to Tallahassee, will there be enough room in that Building to run that business out of there once the Tourism Center gets in there?
@ Snidely, “The historic rail road building should be preserved.”
Why?
What is wrong with the location where the tourism building is now on Jefferson Street?
The historic rail road building should be preserved. Unfortunately nobody even our hated local lock step Democrat voters really trust any of the elected nannies in all matters financial.
Low Bid of $3,449,820, to Ram Construction and Development, LLC for site renovations to the historic Amtrak building. You are already on a very tight budget with this project, what happens if they tell you that they are out of Money three quarters of the way through the project? I see that happen with just about every costly project. I would like to see TR do a deep investigation on past costly projects to see if any of them came in on or below Bid and which ones came in OVER Bid, by how much and who the Developer / Contractor was.
So, the Amtrak Station will only have one purpose: housing the Division of Tourism and Visitor Information Center. Then, once renovated will be connected to a currently non existent bicycle trail. Meanwhile, there are no other REAL county problems that REALLY NEED FIXING?
So… they sold the property… then handed the money right back to the purchaser to renovate the property they sold to them?
… yep… this is a DemoKKKrat operation alright. :-/
tax and spend Democrats continue to party on while local business either fail or render poor service. I
Only the city of Tallahassee would spend millions on an old Amtrak station on Railroad Ave, when we no longer have Amtrak service in this town. They aren’t just crooked… they’re stupid too.