Photo by Alan Strakey
A plan to open two escalator-sized holes in Union Station’s grand foyer to provide quicker access to the food court and retail on the station’s lower levels is stirring up opposition from those who would, well, rather not have a couple of gaping holes in the middle of the ornate hall.
Ashkenazy Acquisition, the contractor that runs Union Station’s retail space, and the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation are trying to push ahead with a 2010 plan that would result in major structural changes to the Main Hall. The plan for “Section 106” calls for removing the Center Cafe that serves as a popular meeting spot for travelers, and carving up the floor to make way for a set of new escalators.
Garish as the result of the plan might seem, it has been in the planning for at least two years. But while previous opposition has come from people and organizations vested in preserving Union Station’s history, there’s now another factor that could be an impediment to the escalator plan: Union Station’s future.
The Washington Post reported that Amtrak is concerned that smashing up the Main Hall for a pair of retail-friendly moving stairways wouldn’t just impact a cherished example of Beaux-Arts design. It would crimp the designs that Amtrak and other stakeholders have for expanding and modernizing Union Station as a high-speed rail hub:
In a Nov. 15 letter to USRC president Beverley Swaim-Staley, Amtrak vice president Stephen J. Gardner reminded her that Amtrak’s plan would require changes to the track and platform layout of the station, as well as the existing concourses and the historic station.
The Union Station plan, which was unveiled in July by Amtrak, D.C. officials and the development firm Akridge, calls for upgrading and enlarging Union Station’s existing terminal, as well as building a new, glass-enclosed high-speed rail concourse. Amtrak, the Post reported, would like to preserve the Main Hall as-is, in order to better accomodate plans to create accessways between the old and new concourses and a new parking garage that is to be built under Columbus Circle.
