What if a City Built a $6.3 Million Transit Hub No One Could Use?

Until a dispute is settled over who own the 2.7-acre tract of land where Troy’s new $6.3 million multimodel transit center sits, commuters hoping to catch a fast train to Chicago will have to be content with looking at the shiny new terminal from a freestanding Amtrak platform across the street in Birmingham.

The Troy Transit Center was completed last fall, but is bogged down in legal wrangling after a Michigan Appeals Court judge ruled the city of Troy doesn’t own the building site near Maple and Coolidge HIghway.

“It’s a shame people have to stand outside in the cold when there is a perfectly good building across the tracks,” Troy Mayor Dane Slater told the Detroit News.

The city is determined to overcome the ruling that gave control to developer Grand/Sakwa Properties, the owner of the nearby Midtown Square shopping center.

The city’s lawsuit appealing the earlier decision was dismissed last month by Oakland County Circuit Court Leo Bowman. That could happen through agreement with Grand/Sakwa Properties or by eminent domain.

The developer had donated the land for the new transit center when the cities of Troy and Birmingham were partnering on the project, but hinged the offer on the ability to secure federal funding by a specified date.

Troy got the $8.4 million in federal money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Program and Federal Rail Administration (FRA), enough to fully fund the project But by the time that happened, the deadline the developer had set had passed and the land reverted back to Grand/Sakwa.