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Reports suggests new uses for historic train station

Date: 9/25/2014

HOLYOKE – Although it sits mostly unused today the city’s former train station could have a bright future with another use.

That’s the conclusion of a recently released report developed for the city’s Redevelopment Authority.
   
Marcos Marrero, the executive director of the city’s Planning and Economic Development department, told Reminder Publications the report spells out the types of uses the city could start pursuing. He said the report was designed to provide a potential developer a “step ahead” by providing a detailed history of the building – necessary for applying for historical tax credits – and architectural drawings of the building
   
Owned by Holyoke Gas & Electric (HG&E), Marrero said the building is actually in very good condition.
   
The report details how the growth of the Holyoke in the latter 19th century required an larger train station and famed architect H.H. Richardson was hired to design the new station that was complete with an “emigrants room” in which doctor’s vaccinated the immigrants arriving to work in the city’s growing factories against smallpox. There had been small pox epidemics in the city in 1870, 1873 and 1885.
   
The report advocates the building be submitted to the National Register of Historic Places.
   
The station was completed in 1885 and used until the mid-1960s when the train north to Vermont and Montreal, Canada, was re-routed away from Holyoke and Northampton. It was purchased and used as a workshop and storage facility for auto parts and engines and then bought in 2009 by HG&E, which uses part of it for storage.
   
Marrero said the goal of the report is to define “what fits in the space and the community.”
   
The reports noted the re-use of other former rail stations across the country and suggested the Holyoke station could be used as a restaurant or micro-brewery. The station think stone walls would act as a passive cooling system for a brewery and the beer tanks could easily be install because of the high ceilings, according to the report.
   
An indoor public market or a year-old farmers’ market could also be a use as well as a culinary workshop or training center. The station could also be used as a small business incubator. Another use could be a community history center and gallery space.
   
Since the report’s release last month, Marrero said, “People are taking note.” His office has shared the report with several developers.
   
One thing the report doesn’t include, he said was potential build costs for the proposed uses.
   
The former station is a short walk from the new Amtrak passenger platform at Dwight and Main streets, which is actually close to the location of the city’s first rail station, he added.
   
The full report can be read at www.holyokeredevelopment.com/h-h-richardson.