09.17.2005 Beitler Awarded Management and Leasing of Metra Randolph Street Station
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
METRA SIGNS RANDOLPH ST. STATION DEAL
September 17, 2005
BY MARK J. KONKOL Transportation Reporter
Metra commuters who frequent Randolph Street station might as well be Cubs fans, forever waiting till next year for the basement depot to bustle with commerce.
Well, "next year" will be here next year, Metra leaders said Friday.
The transit agency board inked a deal with a developer charged with recruiting new businesses and upgrading customary Randolph station fare -- sacks of peanuts and bottled water sold by a newspaper hawker.
The Beitler Group agreed to pay Metra $6.9 million over 20 years to fill the station with a dozen businesses and manage the property, a move aimed at erasing all memory of that subbasement feel.
STATION S NAME COULD CHANGE
In fact, the Metra board appears to be embracing a pitch to change the station s name to Millennium Park station.
The idea is to "get old images of Randolph Street out of our head, and all association with bad problems there will be in the past," Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said.
What folks should expect is a mix of businesses similar to those at the Ogilvie Transportation Center, where restaurants and a newsstand are complemented with a dress shop and bookstore.
It s the "atmosphere the board wanted to pursue, not what is at Union Station, which is just basically a food court," executive director Phil Pagano said.
Because the station is only 16,000 square feet, Metra board chairman Jeff Ladd said the agency s goal was more about serving customers than making money.
But the deal, which includes options for 10-year extensions, gives Metra the right to sell billboard advertising in the tunnel leading to the station, which could bring in $1 million in revenue.
Pagano said the station could be filled with tenants by October 2006.
