Posted on October 19, 2007

City Renaissance on the Fast Track
Richmond Reveals New Multitransit Station

By Katherine Tam
Contra Costa Times STAFF WRITER,

After two years of construction, Richmond on Thursday unveiled its long-awaited multitransit station center, the nexus for local and regional trains and bus lines that could help breathe new life into the city's historic core. More than 100 officials and several curious onlookers gathered for the dedication of the $6.4 million transit station building and outdoor plaza on Macdonald Avenue as trains whizzed by and announcements echoed overhead.

Travelers from the Bay Area and beyond can connect to BART, Amtrak, AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit -- all under one roof. Riders soon will be able to buy tickets, use restrooms and wait for trains or buses in the new station building. A former dirt patch on the ground level has been transformed into a plaza decorated with murals.

But for residents, the hub is more than a series of train platforms and bus stops. "It is part of this reinvigoration of Richmond," Mayor Gayle McLaughlin said. [emphasis added]

The station is the centerpiece of the 16-acre Richmond Transit Village, which officials hope will revive the Macdonald Avenue corridor, once a bustling commercial core whose decline accelerated after Hilltop Mall opened in 1976.

The $110 million transit village will hold more than 200 homes, 27,000 square feet of retail and an 800-space parking garage.

More residents and travelers milling about, and the presence of police at a new multiagency transit station patrol stop should help deter crime, said Lynette Sweet, BART's board president, who represents the Richmond area.

"It has breathed new life in an area that indeed is in need of economic help," Sweet said.

The transit village has been in the works since the 1990s, but it has taken years to corral the federal, state and local dollars to bring it to fruition. Residents in 2004 began moving into some of the 132 townhouses of the first housing phase.

City officials are negotiating with a vendor to provide customer information and ticket sales inside the station building and hope to finalize a deal by the end of the year, said Michael Williams, project manager with the city Redevelopment Agency. The station building was open for public viewing Thursday but will be closed until a vendor is secured.

The parking garage is slated to break ground next year, Williams said. Its completion will free up the parking lot on the east side of the station, paving the way for at least 100 more housing units. The village could be finished in five years, said Lisa Hammon, executive director of the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee.

More revitalization efforts are under way near the transit village. A 237-unit condominium and retail project will go up on Macdonald Avenue at 12th Street. And the city intends to add wider sidewalks, streetlights, benches, trees and trash receptacles along the nine-block stretch from San Pablo Avenue to 39th Street.

On Thursday, travelers catching BART or Amtrak called the renovated station an improvement.

"It's a nicer station with the artwork. What makes it unique is the Amtrak connectivity," said Roger Santos, who lives in Berkeley and takes BART to Richmond daily for work. Santos said he connects to Amtrak from the Richmond station when he travels to Fresno.

But Richmond resident Fred Robinson said he would rather see lower BART fares and reduced city fees for businesses.

"I wish they'd do work on those services and not so much the art and the aesthetics," he said. "The average rider doesn't really look at that."

Reach Katherine Tam at 510-262-2787 or ktam@bayareanewsgroup.com.