Brief by Clint Driscoll
Railroad history – June 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
It is still true that no good deed goes unpunished. The initial plans for moving the 1880 Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad depot in Buena Vista have derailed.
Originally the depot — which served as a private residence until October, 2002 when a fire damaged it — was supposed to be moved to a space on the right-of-way of the Union Pacific tracks which run through town.
The depot’s owners, Riian and Marjorie Van Niekerk, gave the building to the Buena Vista Heritage Society with the proviso that the society move it, and a crane service was ready to oblige, but….
Site leasing became a problem. It had been assumed that the right-of-way site could be leased from the UP for a nominal $250 per year in a long-term, 20-year agreement. The town already pays an annual lease of $500 for public parking along the tracks. But in an e-mail sent from the UP on April 29, Real Estate Manager Gregg Larsen informed the town that the railroad was willing to enter into a new annual lease with Buena Vista for public parking and depot space for $1500 per year with a 90-day termination clause. According to Larsen, that amount is well below market value.
Larsen also wrote that any long-term lease (20 years) must be at market value, basically an up-front payment of $65,000. Larsen pointed out that the railroad needs to protect its investment should the right-of-way through town ever be sold. A long-term lease at less than market rent would restrict the UP’s ability to sell the property at market value.
Town administrator Jerry L’Estrange thought any expenditure that large should be for purchase of property and informed the Buena Vista Heritage Society of his opinion.
He suggested various sites to BVH and to the Buena Vista Board of Trustees at a regular meeting on May 13. Proposed sites included McPhelemy Park (at the northwest corner of U.S. Highway 24 and Main Street), and the Turner Homestead Museum.
Neither site seemed ideal because of poor visibility and historical inaccuracy; one expects a depot to be near railroad tracks, after all. But the town board decided to put the building in McPhelemy Park.
The foundation will be poured as soon as the county approves the building permit, but plumbing and power will be considered later. In the meantime, the depot has to move, and will temporarily reside on the town’s street easement until its new foundation in the park is ready.
–Clint Driscoll