The next stop on Tampa’s journey as a 21st Century downtown may be a train station built in 1912.Today, Tampa Union Station serves more than 100,000 Amtrak passengers annually on routes between Miami and New York. On one recent weekday afternoon, a sports team of teenagers from South Africa arrived at the station their way to an event in Sarasota.
The City of Tampa and Friends of Tampa Union Station, a nonprofit working for the restoration of the station, think the two-story brick building at 601 N. Nebraska Ave. can be much more than just a train station. “There’s a lot that can be done to activate the station so it’s an active train station and a community space as well,” says Friends of Tampa Union Station President Brandie Miklus says. “There’s a lot of potential.”