Union Square Redevelopment
6 Union Square Redevelopment
Neglected and folorn the old Union Amtrak Station was sandwiched inbetween the 8th St Shopping District, Riverside Stadium and Southside. It occupied 2 city blocks with large parking lots, 2 high-rise apartment buildings and the Southside Branch Library. The concrete building was originally constructed in 1977 to replace one built in the 1930s that had burnt down. At the time the station was connected to the main rail system on three lines. The Capitol Corridor line from Sacramento to San José, the California Zephyr line from Oakland to Chicago and the Coast Starlight service from Seattle to Los Angeles. In 1975 the station caught fire after an explosion on a train waiting in the station and the roof caved in causing irreparable damage. During the reconstruction the line was moved from Oakwood to St Mark and now the California Zephyr and Coast Starlight services bypass the city calling instead at St Mark and only the Capitol Corridor and OMTA's Metro Rail services run from Union Station
As a result of this it was decided that the 6 platform capacity of the old, concrete monstrosity of Union Station was no longer needed and in 2009 a plan was put forward to redevelop the station. By 2012 the work was finished and a new 'quater' of the city had been created with large, glass-fronted office blocks, open pedestrian squares and easy transit links. That's the new Union Square.
6.1 Before (Looking West)
Showing here the largely unused western platforms and the sparsely used central platforms. The station suffered from a lack of use, a lack of investment and thus was shunned by the city in favour of air travel. The only time when the parking lots could be seen full was when there were Tigers games on at the stadium but even then the majority of people chose to arrive by metro or the dedicated 12L bus service from City Hall Transit Center.
6.2 Before (Looking East)
Here Block A and Block B of the Union St development can be seen, these are some of the few remnants of the original Union Station from the 1930s development of the area. Originally designed to be pleasant places to live they quickly became dilapidated and in the 1980s a massive drug problem in the towers resulted in a crackdown on the area. By 2007 the towers were mostly abandoned and their demolition in 2009 was watched by thousands from the roofs of surrounding buildings.
6.3 Construction (Looking North)
Construction begun in 2009 with the leveling of the site and the closure of Arizona St between 8th & 8th Streets. The majority of disruption was caused by the rerouting of Amtrak Capitol Corridor services from Union Station to Delaware Station although many other commuters enjoyed the shedding of 12 minutes from journey times as the trains no longer had to turn around at Oakwood. During early-2012 the development opened in stages with the first area to open being Stadium Walk providing an easy link between Downtown and 8th St without having to go down all the way to California St. After this came the Southside Library, Roger Hurwitz Building, Union Square and finally the new Union Station and New Square. During the 8 months when the glass roof was lifted into position at Union Station Metro Rail services ran to a small set of platforms located just south of Connecticut St and a shuttle bus service was provided.
6.4 Union Station during construction
The temporary station was constructed on the site of the new Union Station and served Metro Rail services from Summer 2009 until the winter of 2011. During this time the blue hoarding became a familiar site around the area for residents and commuters and the large cranes needed to construct the new office complex dominated the skyline for quite some time. Amtrak is currently running a study to see if there would be support for moving all Capitol Corridor services to avoid Union Station all together and instead running a Thruway Coach service from Delaware Station to Oakwood Downtown, Katherine and eventually St Mark Station to connect with California Zephyr and Coast Starlight services. If this were to happen the only services to serve Union Station would be OMTA's Metro Rail services.
6.5 Eighth Street during construction
6.6 After (Looking East)
By 2012 the Union Square development was finished and the contrast between this shot and the last one clearly shows the improvement in the area. The railway station was reduced to two platforms (one for Amtrak and one for Metro Rail) and nestled inbetween the two large towers. Union Square and Stadium Walk were provided to add more pedestrian areas to the development and encourage a "European" feeling of outside dining and large, open spaces. To ease congestion around the development Arizona St was rerouted into a one way system and New Square was constructed.
6.7 Union Square
The new open space here and large open-plan offices take cues from the Docklands development in London and the Transbay development in San Francisco. Originally the are was designed to have a European feel which many of it's critics argue was not achieved due to the public areas being in shadow from the height of the buildings. For almost a year many of the shops on Union Square and California Street remained empty as did most of Hannan Tower due to the continuing effects of the late-00s recession. By 2012 the units had been filled and much of the space in Hannan Tower was leased to the Federal government.
6.8 Southside Library
The new Southside Library replaces the old one on the corner of California & 7th. It has a much enlarged book collection, a new lecture theatre and an improved archives center. The building itself is lighter and airier than the old building with a large glass atrium and the new Kerouac Square named after the famous author Jack Kerouac who visited the city in his epic road trip novel On The Road. Also shown is the improved pedestrian access on Stadium Way which replaces Arizona St and the frontage to the old Union Station. The new one-way system reroutes traffic around the development. The metro station here was also renamed from Stadium / Union Amtrak to Stadium / Union Square as it now lies further away from the station although it is clearly signposted.
6.9 Morgan Stanley Tower, Hannan Tower and Union Station
Here it's clear to see how the new platforms of Union Station were squeezed in between the two largest buildings in the development. The relocation of the station from Arizona St to California St has resulted in the loss of some connectivity with the metro service so a new limited bus service running between City Hall Transit Center and California & 8th; the 13L was begun by OMTA. Recently a trial of double-decker buses on the busy route has proved successful. At ground level chains have taken up the stores facing the street and underground there is a small shopping mall area connecting the two buildings to the railway station which contains shops such as the Tea Leaf & Coffee Bean and the Body Shop.
6.10 8th St and New Square
Some of the major opponents of the plans to redevelop the area were shop owners of the 8th Street Shopping District which borders the project. They argued that new shops would draw business away from theirs. As a result of their appeal in the planning process the original plan to keep Arizona Street as it was was dropped in favour of a new one-way system with New Square taking cars from downtown to 8th St. The increased traffic and office works has actually led to a large increase of business at these shops.
6.11 & 6.12 Before and After shots from Google Maps
On these two maps it's clear to see the realignment of the roads and the relocation of Union Station as well as the locations of the main landmarks within the project.
Neglected and folorn the old Union Amtrak Station was sandwiched inbetween the 8th St Shopping District, Riverside Stadium and Southside. It occupied 2 city blocks with large parking lots, 2 high-rise apartment buildings and the Southside Branch Library. The concrete building was originally constructed in 1977 to replace one built in the 1930s that had burnt down. At the time the station was connected to the main rail system on three lines. The Capitol Corridor line from Sacramento to San José, the California Zephyr line from Oakland to Chicago and the Coast Starlight service from Seattle to Los Angeles. In 1975 the station caught fire after an explosion on a train waiting in the station and the roof caved in causing irreparable damage. During the reconstruction the line was moved from Oakwood to St Mark and now the California Zephyr and Coast Starlight services bypass the city calling instead at St Mark and only the Capitol Corridor and OMTA's Metro Rail services run from Union Station
As a result of this it was decided that the 6 platform capacity of the old, concrete monstrosity of Union Station was no longer needed and in 2009 a plan was put forward to redevelop the station. By 2012 the work was finished and a new 'quater' of the city had been created with large, glass-fronted office blocks, open pedestrian squares and easy transit links. That's the new Union Square.
6.1 Before (Looking West)
Showing here the largely unused western platforms and the sparsely used central platforms. The station suffered from a lack of use, a lack of investment and thus was shunned by the city in favour of air travel. The only time when the parking lots could be seen full was when there were Tigers games on at the stadium but even then the majority of people chose to arrive by metro or the dedicated 12L bus service from City Hall Transit Center.
6.2 Before (Looking East)
Here Block A and Block B of the Union St development can be seen, these are some of the few remnants of the original Union Station from the 1930s development of the area. Originally designed to be pleasant places to live they quickly became dilapidated and in the 1980s a massive drug problem in the towers resulted in a crackdown on the area. By 2007 the towers were mostly abandoned and their demolition in 2009 was watched by thousands from the roofs of surrounding buildings.
6.3 Construction (Looking North)
Construction begun in 2009 with the leveling of the site and the closure of Arizona St between 8th & 8th Streets. The majority of disruption was caused by the rerouting of Amtrak Capitol Corridor services from Union Station to Delaware Station although many other commuters enjoyed the shedding of 12 minutes from journey times as the trains no longer had to turn around at Oakwood. During early-2012 the development opened in stages with the first area to open being Stadium Walk providing an easy link between Downtown and 8th St without having to go down all the way to California St. After this came the Southside Library, Roger Hurwitz Building, Union Square and finally the new Union Station and New Square. During the 8 months when the glass roof was lifted into position at Union Station Metro Rail services ran to a small set of platforms located just south of Connecticut St and a shuttle bus service was provided.
6.4 Union Station during construction
The temporary station was constructed on the site of the new Union Station and served Metro Rail services from Summer 2009 until the winter of 2011. During this time the blue hoarding became a familiar site around the area for residents and commuters and the large cranes needed to construct the new office complex dominated the skyline for quite some time. Amtrak is currently running a study to see if there would be support for moving all Capitol Corridor services to avoid Union Station all together and instead running a Thruway Coach service from Delaware Station to Oakwood Downtown, Katherine and eventually St Mark Station to connect with California Zephyr and Coast Starlight services. If this were to happen the only services to serve Union Station would be OMTA's Metro Rail services.
6.5 Eighth Street during construction
6.6 After (Looking East)
By 2012 the Union Square development was finished and the contrast between this shot and the last one clearly shows the improvement in the area. The railway station was reduced to two platforms (one for Amtrak and one for Metro Rail) and nestled inbetween the two large towers. Union Square and Stadium Walk were provided to add more pedestrian areas to the development and encourage a "European" feeling of outside dining and large, open spaces. To ease congestion around the development Arizona St was rerouted into a one way system and New Square was constructed.
6.7 Union Square
The new open space here and large open-plan offices take cues from the Docklands development in London and the Transbay development in San Francisco. Originally the are was designed to have a European feel which many of it's critics argue was not achieved due to the public areas being in shadow from the height of the buildings. For almost a year many of the shops on Union Square and California Street remained empty as did most of Hannan Tower due to the continuing effects of the late-00s recession. By 2012 the units had been filled and much of the space in Hannan Tower was leased to the Federal government.
6.8 Southside Library
The new Southside Library replaces the old one on the corner of California & 7th. It has a much enlarged book collection, a new lecture theatre and an improved archives center. The building itself is lighter and airier than the old building with a large glass atrium and the new Kerouac Square named after the famous author Jack Kerouac who visited the city in his epic road trip novel On The Road. Also shown is the improved pedestrian access on Stadium Way which replaces Arizona St and the frontage to the old Union Station. The new one-way system reroutes traffic around the development. The metro station here was also renamed from Stadium / Union Amtrak to Stadium / Union Square as it now lies further away from the station although it is clearly signposted.
6.9 Morgan Stanley Tower, Hannan Tower and Union Station
Here it's clear to see how the new platforms of Union Station were squeezed in between the two largest buildings in the development. The relocation of the station from Arizona St to California St has resulted in the loss of some connectivity with the metro service so a new limited bus service running between City Hall Transit Center and California & 8th; the 13L was begun by OMTA. Recently a trial of double-decker buses on the busy route has proved successful. At ground level chains have taken up the stores facing the street and underground there is a small shopping mall area connecting the two buildings to the railway station which contains shops such as the Tea Leaf & Coffee Bean and the Body Shop.
6.10 8th St and New Square
Some of the major opponents of the plans to redevelop the area were shop owners of the 8th Street Shopping District which borders the project. They argued that new shops would draw business away from theirs. As a result of their appeal in the planning process the original plan to keep Arizona Street as it was was dropped in favour of a new one-way system with New Square taking cars from downtown to 8th St. The increased traffic and office works has actually led to a large increase of business at these shops.
6.11 & 6.12 Before and After shots from Google Maps
On these two maps it's clear to see the realignment of the roads and the relocation of Union Station as well as the locations of the main landmarks within the project.
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