Historic train station is for sale BY JOHN GOLDEN

Historic train station is for sale
BY JOHN GOLDEN

For Sale: historic railroad station in Mamaroneck. Comes with massive fireplace no longer used, stained-glass semioval windows and antique waiting benches. Needs extensive repairs by new owner.

Through real estate brokers CB Richard Ellis and Massey Knakal, Metro-North Railroad is soliciting bid proposals until June 21 for its mansard-roofed Romanesque revival station in the village. Built circa 1888, the underused building, which houses only a train ticket booth with part-time hours of operation, is the second-oldest depot on the New Haven line.

Since advertising for bids in early May, “There have been about two-dozen expressions of interest” from prospective buyers, said Metro-North spokesperson Marjorie Anders. “They range from real estate developers some big, big realty companies to local merchants and restaurateurs.”

Metro-North will make available 10 parking spaces in front of the station to the new owner. Village officials are looking to make available 20 to 30 additional parking spaces in the near vicinity, Anders said.

Metro-North will consider bidders’ proposed uses of the 5,100-square-foot station and ability to make the financial investment needed to repair the building. “There is a significant amount of work to be done,” that could cost “millions,” the spokesperson said.

“We don’t just want to sell it and watch it deteriorate further,” Anders said. “We want someone who’s going to fix it. We have tried for years to do a net lease on the building, but we never got anybody really interested in it because nobody wants to make that kind of capital investment in a building they don’t own.”

The station is the first that Metro-North has put up for sale to a private buyer. In early 2004, Anders said, the railroad sold its Harrison station for $1 for municipal use by the village of Harrison, in exchange for which the village agreed to build 45 commuter parking spaces on Metropolitan Transportation Authority property.

As was the Harrison station, “Mamaroneck is also where it’s not convenient to the platform,” Anders said. “There’s a tunnel and some steps separating it from the platform. Because it has such little utility as a ticket office, we’d really rather see someone else fix it up who’s going to use it.”

Metro-North has budgeted $6.3 million through 2009 to build a fully enclosed train platform waiting area and make other property improvements at Mamaroneck, which is used by about 3,000 commuters daily, Anders said.

Metro-North has net leases at several train stations with businesses that typically include food establishments. They include Hartsdale, Mount Kisco, Pearl River, Peekskill, Pelham, Spring Valley and Tuckahoe.

This year, leases at the Bronxville and Croton-Harmon depots, held by a longtime train station fixture, Commuter Cleaners, are up for negotiation along with space at the Scarsdale station, Anders said. The railroad plans to add new leases this year at Harrison and Larchmont for platform coffee and newsstands. “Coffee-type establishments” also are available for leasing at the Mount Vernon East station and possibly in Yonkers, Anders said.

The Metro-North spokesperson said the buyer of the Mamaroneck station will decide whether the underground tunnel connecting the station to the elevated platform will remain open. The new owner would be responsible for the tunnel’s upkeep.

The Mamaroneck station is one of five historic landmark buildings on the New Haven line. The others are at Harrison, New Rochelle, Pelham and Port Chester.

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