HARRISBURG, Pa. – PennDOT announced today it is starting a request for qualifications (RFQ) process to solicit a Public Private Partner to develop parking and retail around a revitalized Middletown train station.
In addition, PennDOT will host an industry forum on September 28 from 10 am to noon at the Sheraton Harrisburg-Hershey Hotel on Lindle Road to outline the P3 concept for the area around the station, which is on the Amtrak Keystone line.
“The Keystone Line offers an attractive travel option for more than one million riders a year and enhancing stations along the route can help attract even more riders,” PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said. “Renewed stations also help build strong surrounding communities and that is the goal of our P3 plans.”
PennDOT’s vision is that the P3 partner will develop, design, build, finance, operate and maintain parking facilities that provide a minimum of 400 parking spaces in an eight-acre tract near the newly relocated AMTRAK station as well as undertake possible commercial/retail development.
In addition, the partner will construct an Emaus Street extension as well as a pedestrian bridge over Route 230 to the Penn State-Harrisburg campus. The partner will be required to maintain the project site for at least 30 years.
Interested parties have 60 days to respond with a statement of qualifications.
The P3 development will complement the work PennDOT, AMTRAK and Norfolk-Southern are doing to build the new Middletown station. Site preparation under a $2.6 million contract is underway and is expected to be completed in May 2017. Norfolk-Southern is expected to start an estimated $6.5 million in track work later this year. AMTRAK’s track work, estimated to cost roughly $4.3 million, will start late next year. Work on the new station and platform, estimated to cost $24.4 million, is expected to start late in 2018.
“Our goal is to build transit ridership at the Middletown station and add an attractive transportation and commercial hub for the community,” Richards said. “This is part of our mission to build a better Pennsylvania and mobility for its citizens.”
