TriMet to purchase former Greyhound terminal in Old Town

*Updated with statement from TriMet at 11:23 am.*

The former Greyhound station in Old Town across the street from Union Station will soon house TriMet buses if a plan to purchase the building goes through. At a meeting this morning of Metro’s Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT), TriMet General Manager Sam Desue announced a plan to reallocate funds currently set aside for zero emission buses and instead use it to purchase the Greyhound building for use as a bus layover facility.

“Due to our current financial situation, where we are reprioritizing the use of these funds,” Desue told fellow members of JPACT. “We currently have more buses that we need for our current operations. However, we’re not taking our foot off the gas regarding zero emission buses and purchases for the future.”

Desue went on to explain that TriMet intends to purchase the two-acre property at 550 NW 6th Avenue and convert it from a Greyhound terminal into a layover facility that can house up to nine, 60-foot spaces for TriMet buses. Currently, TriMet bus operators on the frequent service FX-2 Division Line layover in the transit mall on NW 5th and 6th avenues. TriMet says housing these buses indoors will be safer for operators, spur much-needed urban development in Old Town and satisfy a commitment TriMet made with the City of Portland in 2016 to not use a public street for extended layovers.

At their meeting today, JPACT authorized an amendment to the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) that reallocates $4.1 million in federal funds previously intended for zero emission bus purchases and adds $7.9 million (a mix of federal and TriMet funds) for a total of $12 million.

According to the Portland Business Journal, the former Greyhound terminal is currently owned by Transportation Realty Income Partners LP, and it listed on the market for $10 million. Greyhound moved out of the building in 2019 and TriMet has had its eye on it ever since. TriMet says they hope to close on the property by this summer.

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Below is more information about the proposed sale in email from TriMet just before noon on Thursday:

This is a unique opportunity for TriMet, as the funding strategy to acquire the former Greyhound property as a bus layover site leverages federal funds with the minimum possible investment of TriMet general funds. Given our constrained revenues and more than enough buses needed given our current and future service levels, we are not making this particular electric bus purchase this year.  

TriMet is looking to reallocate existing federal funds and grant money to purchase the former Greyhound bus site at 550 Northwest 6th Avenue for a new bus layover facility. The need for additional bus layover space was identified back in 2016, during the planning phase of the Division Transit Project. When the City of Portland adopted the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the project, they included a provision, which said that TriMet would work with the City “to identify, plan and design a permanent off-street bus layover facility… near the north terminus of the transit mall.” The resolution gave a timeline of five-years from the Sept. 18, 2022 service launch of the Division Transit Project.

The site at 550 NW 6^th Avenue is uniquely suited to TriMet’s needs, as it located next to Union Station; close to TriMet MAX lines and the Steel Bridge; and serves TriMet access and future needs in this part of the city.  It includes 2-acres of property on the transit mall, with an existing bus yard. Of the locations TriMet considered for the layover facility, the Greyhound site had the lowest up front capital investment requirements and the greatest long-term flexibility. It will serve buses from across the region; meet an urgent need for additional layover space; and has the opportunity to catalyze development directly adjacent to high capacity transit and Union Station. 

The proposed transaction for the site leverages existing federal funds and federal grant monies that are not available for TriMet operations, maintenance or TriMet service, or other agency expenditures. A breakdown of the funding is below.

In addition to the $3.3 Million in federal formula dollars in this MTIP amendment, TriMet will be using $7.9 Million in FTA restricted funds for the purchase of this site. When TriMet sells a piece of property that was purchased with federal funds – a portion of the sale, attributed to federal funds – goes into a dedicated fund that we can only use for purchases like these and attached to other federal dollars like these formula funds. 

TriMet’s Board of Directors was briefed on the topic in December, and you can watch that part of the meeting here. As for next steps, we expect our Board of Directors to vote on a Resolution related to the acquisition at their Jan. 28 meeting. We hope to close on the property as soon as this summer.