The city could be running its first public-owned intercity bus terminal by late summer following a vote by the City Council to buy the ailing South Loop Greyhound station.
The ordinance passed Wednesday allows the city to purchase the terminal at 630 W. Harrison St. for $19 million. The deal also pumps millions into renovating the neglected terminal — and saves the nearly half-million people who use the station each year from potentially being kicked to curbside bus service.
Ald. Bill Conway (34th) was once a leading skeptic of keeping the station at its current location due to concerns about crime, traffic and the use of tax increment financing funds.
He told Council members Wednesday he’d changed his tune after considering the importance of keeping an intercity bus terminal for its low-income users — some of whom use it to access reproductive care in Illinois.
“Doing nothing will leave riders with no bus station, or at best, waiting at the stop outside with a large deteriorating site on Harrison Street,” Conway said.
The vote wrapped up a yearslong effort to save Greyhound from eviction from its own terminal. Greyhound lost ownership of the terminal four years ago when the company sold off dozens of its properties during its acquisition by FlixBus.
Mayor Brandon Johnson introduced the ordinance to finalize the purchase, arguing in the ordinance’s language that buying the station was cheaper than letting Greyhound be evicted and building a city-owned bus terminal elsewhere.
The city’s purchase from current owner Alden Global Capital could be finalized by August, city officials said last week, when a committee advanced the ordinance.
Johnson, speaking with reporters after the vote, said he “wasn’t going to sit idly by” as “a private equity firm … withdrew their support from something that the most vulnerable amongst us needed.”
The current owner initially planned to tear down the terminal and build a high-rise, but eventually entered into an agreement with the city to sell the land to it.
Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) opposed the deal, arguing to colleagues that the actual price to the city was upward of $50 million when considering the extra work needed by the city’s Transportation Department. He said he doubted the city could run a public bus station and said the money could be used elsewhere.
The city said the terminal will be run like any city-run airport: Bus operators will pay rent to use the station, and that’s expected to cover the city’s operating expenses.
As part of the agreement, FlixBus North America, which owns Greyhound, would continue to operate the station for a 12-month transition period.
The $19 million purchase price is below the $26 million market rate. It leaves $31 million of city money for repairs and upgrades to the neglected station.
Last week, when the City Council’s real estate committee advanced the purchase, officials said the city would first replace the city’s heating and cooling system, as well as implement measures such as new cameras and increased security.