If you don’t see the sign on the building depicting a sleek, silver racing dog in full stride, you might not immediately identify the structure as a Greyhound bus station.
That’s the concept for Greyhound Lines Inc.’s new intercity bus terminal that will replace its decades-old station at Bay and Pearl streets.
“They’ll have elements with their brand. You’ll recognize it’s Greyhound,” said Brad Thoburn, Jacksonville Transportation Authority vice president of long-range planning and system development.
The new building is the first phase of the authority’s $33 million Regional Transportation Center that’s scheduled to be in operation in 2019.
The new station’s architecture will mirror the design chosen for the entire transportation complex and it’s scheduled to be considered for conceptual review Oct. 20 by the Downtown Development Review Board.
That’s not what happened in Nashville in 2011 when Greyhound built a new station in the SoBro mixed-use district adjacent to that city’s urban core.
Even after the building was under construction, Greyhound officials declined to comment on its appearance other than to say, in part, “Having a standard design allows our locations to be easily recognizable for our passengers,” according to an article published by The CityPaper, a Nashville news website.
That’s not how it works in Jacksonville.
Thoburn said JTA and Greyhound have been working together for some time to develop their new terminal as part of the transportation center complex that will combine long-distance bus transportation, JTA’s fixed-route, bus rapid transit and Skyway systems as well as administrative offices for the authority.
In fact, the location of the Greyhound station within the overall transportation center design was changed about 18 months ago to better fit with future development of LaVilla, he said.
Thoburn said submitting the design to the review board is “an important part of the process.”
The review board conducted a workshop Oct. 4 for the architects and engineers selected by JTA to design the transportation complex.
That should help ensure the conceptual design is approved next week, which would allow final approval in November, which will include review of building materials, colors and signage.
Final approval by the board is required before the city will issue building permits for the project.
Thoburn said construction of the Greyhound facility should take about 12 months. The second phase — JTA’s facilities — is scheduled to begin construction next fall and should be complete in September 2019.
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