The revised transit plan for Denver’s historic Union Station will cost about $477 million — $57 million more than the developer proposed a year ago — and will take about a year longer to complete.
But building the commuter- and heavy-rail tracks above ground — a major change to the original proposal that was only recently revealed — is expected to cost about $100 million less than locating them underground. The cost increase is the result of other changes to the plan and rising construction prices.
The financial details were disclosed Tuesday at a presentation to a subcommittee of the Union Station Advisory Committee.
Union Station is the centerpiece for FasTracks, the region’s tax-funded, $4.7 billion transportation expansion plan, approved by voters in 2004.
In addition to the transit component, the project is to include mixed-use development on an adjacent parcel.
The project is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2012.
“We’re not digging a hole in the ground anymore,” said Claude Pumilla, the city’s chief financial officer. “We saved $100 million because we’re not putting the track below grade.”
The developer, Union Station Neighborhood Co., will present the new plan to the full Union Station Advisory Committee at 5:30 p.m. today at a public meeting at the Wellington Webb Building, 201 W. Colfax Ave., Room 4F 6/4G2.
About $274 million in funding will come from FasTracks money and federal grants; $186 million from future sales taxes, metropolitan-district fees, the developer and the sale of RTD’s Market Street Station; and $20 million from sources that were not specified.
Changes to the plan decrease the amount of space the developers can build by about 23 percent to 1.35 million square feet, but Pumilla said he expects the development to be higher in value.
Several factors led to the changes from the original plan. As Union Station Neighborhood Co. delved into the project, it discovered that a number of changes would be necessary to accommodate the needs of the Regional Transportation District. By July, the estimated cost had skyrocketed to $602 million because of those changes. The team has been working since then to bring the cost back down.
“The solution is driven by technical factors and the need to accommodate RTD’s operational and capacity needs,” said Mike Reininger, managing partner at Union Station Neighborhood Co., which beat out a development team that included Cherokee Denver LLC and Trammell Crow Co. for the right to develop the station.
The other team’s plan would have cost $495 million but would have put all the tracks underground at the station.
Union Station Neighborhood Co.’s new plan expands the number of tracks and platforms from six to eight, largely because the FasTracks system’s Gold Line changed from light to commuter rail. Additionally, the Federal Railroad Administration indicated it would be unlikely to approve putting Amtrak tracks underground.
“I think they’re making some good headway,” said Jon Esty, president of the Colorado Rail Passenger Association and a Union Station Advisory Committee member. “I really like the idea of having the tracks at grade.
” That’s a very good change, even though they were forced into it.”
But Esty said he’s still unhappy that the light-rail platform is not located with the rest of the transit.
“The original intent of Union Station was to be an intermodal facility where the modes of transportation were connected as closely together as possible.”
Other changes to the original plan include eliminating the extension of 18th Street from Wynkoop Street to Wewatta Street to accommodate buses coming into the station from 20th Street.
They’ll cross 18th Street and descend into a tunnel, where the regional bus facility will be located.
The new plan expands the regional bus facility from 16 to 22 bays, adding about $93 million to the cost of the development.
The plan extends an underground pedestrian plaza, including a moving sidewalk, from the station to the light-rail platform about 500 feet away. The old version stopped the tunnel at Wewatta.
The 18th Street circulator shuttle bus and the 16th Street Mall Ride will deliver passengers directly to the commuter and light-rail platforms, features not included in the original plan.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
