Blue Ridge Depot Finds New Home

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The Train Depot in Blue Ridge will soon move to a new building. Currently, the depot, which includes the ticket office and gift shop, is located at 241 Depot Street. According to Mayor Donna Whitener, the current depot building is in need of over-due attention, including electrical work, structural repair, bathroom installation, plumbing and painting. The renovation is also part of Streetscape, a type of city beautification project, where the depot renovation is part of the third phase. The money for the work comes from a state transportation grant, Whitener said, adding that the work will take approximately six months to complete.

In a called meeting Wednesday, February first, The Blue Ridge City Council discussed the lease for the depot’s new building, a temporary residence for the duration of the depot’s renovations. Located at 662 East Main Street, the new building is only a short distance from the depot’s current residence. The city will lease the space from Vincent and Crystal Davis, who had to temporarily move out two businesses to accommodate the city.

On Wednesday, the Mayor sought approval for several changes to the lease for the depot’s temporary building, the most significant of which was the length.

“I would like to get the lease changed from a one year lease to a six month lease,”

she said. Whitener explained the building was 100 years old and that she wanted to be able to extend the lease on a monthly basis at the same rate in the event of any obstacles. Work on a building of this age may present an issue with the county’s historical preservation society. However, nothing beyond this was mentioned in the meeting.

The project is still out for bid. Whitener, however, said she has yet to receive any proposals for renovation work, explaining that, because of this, the bid time may be extended.

Whitener later explained that the city intended to begin the project this January, but due to paper work this timeframe was not possible. She also expressed some concern about starting the work this late in the year.

“The train brings a lot of tourists to town, so we don’t want to interfere with their time,”

she said, adding that the train depot starts selling tickets March 12th.

“We’re just going to barely get them in the (temporary) building in time for them to start selling tickets,”

Whitener said.

At the end of the meeting, the council approved a motion to move forward with the lease and to send the lease for approval of the changes to County Attorney David Syfan.

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