Feasibility study could hold fate of roundhouse

Hopeful Group - Dave Little, president of the Frankfort Midwest Rail Heritage Trust, points to some of the glass fixtures in the old roundhouse complex. The group is hopeful that results of a feasibility study will outline the steps that need to be taken in the possible renovation of the roundhouse.

Published August 24, 2010 Frankfort Times
by Ken Hartman

Members of the Frankfort-Midwest Rail Heritage Trust are hoping to have an idea of what can be
done with the city’s roundhouse this week. Shan Sheridan, treasurer of the group, said members will have their first meeting with Browning Day Mullins and Dierdorf of Indianapolis, the architectural firm that is doing the feasibility study, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Clinton County
Chamber of Commerce. Sheridan said this meeting will talk about the structural engineering report of the roundhouse and what can be salvaged.

“This will be the first piece of puzzle,” said Sheridan. “At that point, you can start putting some numbers together. After you get the engineering study back, they can say half of it has to come down, 70 percent of it has come to down, whatever. They will have a percentage of what can stay and what has to come down.”

According to Sheridan, the feasibility study began in mid-July and it will be at least 60 days before it is completed. When it is done, it will contain information valuable to planning the roundhouse’s future.

“The findings will not just include the engineering study, but they will also look at the land use opportunities, look at the economic impact possibilities, look at the potential use and can be it be used as a multiuse facility,” said Sheridan. “All of these things are going to be looked at.”

Once the feasibility study is completed, an environmental assessment of the property will have to be done.

Sheridan said those with the trust are excited about the feasibility study because Browning Day Mullins and Dierdorf is the firm which resurrected Union Station in downtown Indianapolis as well as the Canal Walk and Monument Circle.

The feasibility study cost $50,000, Sheridan said. Browning Day Mullins and Dierdorf will coordinate public meetings, but none have been set.

Dave Little, president of the Frankfort-Midwest Rail Heritage Trust, said Browning Day Mullins and Dierdorf was chosen because of a desire to hire a firm with the most vision.

"We wanted a group that would think outside the box and what other possibilites are out there," said Little. "This group came with a lot of ideas and a lot of enthusiasm about things we didn't think about. When you do that, you don't limit what can happen and we're excited about that."

The Frankfort-Midwest Rail Heritage Trust was formed in 2005 to acquire the roundhous complex from the Norfolk Southern Railway, which owns the 14-acre property. The Frankfort-Midwest Rail Heritage Trust now owns the yard office.

"We feel like we have a gold mine here," said Little. "We have a lot of railroad interest and a lot of people who want to see this project secured because there's so much history and heritage in the railroad here in our community. But we have to take it from an eyesore to a thng of beauty."

Sheridan said optimism is limited to a certain degree until the feasibility study is complete.

"We have an eclectic group with a lot of different views," said Sheridan. "This could be a museum, a conference center or used for retail. There are a lot of things this could become. We want to make it a good practical use for our community, for the region and for the state."

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