The downtown Greyhound station on Howard Street, owned by the Michigan Department of Transportation, will have its lease terminated in a month. Depending on when the bus line leaves the building, it could be demolished and the two-acre lot sold for development.
The Greyhound station on Howard Street (Photo: Google)
MDOT has received "multiple unsolicited bids." Greyhound has asked for an extension until the end of the year to find a new home, after decades in the current location at Howard and the Lodge freeway.
The Detroit Free Press reports:
MDOT’s Rob Pearson, who oversees intercity bus services in the state, told the Free Press that the department has received multiple unsolicited bids on the property. He declined to discuss specifics but said the station would likely be demolished to make way for new development, such as apartments, a restaurant, a market, possibly even a parking structure.
“They’ve been pushing pretty hard. They’d like to break ground before the snow flies,” Pearson said, noting that timeline might be a bit ambitious.
MDOT has offered Greyhound use of the Amtrak Station on West Baltimore Street in New Center as a temporary home until a new multimodal bus and train facility can be built in that area in a few years, but Greyhound has questioned the ability of the train station to accommodate its buses.
Downtown development is pushing out from the central city, but particularly to the west, as Corktown real-estate values skyrocket ahead of the Ford Motor Co. redevelopment of the Michigan Central Station.
Greyhound is pushing back against a quick relocation, saying none of the alternatives being offered by the state, including the Rosa Parks Transit Center, fits its needs. Forty-nine bus routes start at the station every day, serving 1,000 passengers.
