Sioux Falls, South Dakota, reaches deal to purchase BNSF rail yard for $27 million

[mahatmakanejeeves]

$27 million in federal highway funds are headed to Warren Buffett.

Sioux Falls reaches deal to purchase BNSF rail yard for $27 million

7/23/2015

The city of Sioux Falls, S.D., plans to use more than $27 million in federal highway funds to purchase a downtown rail yard from BNSF Railway Co. ... City officials yesterday announced that negotiations had concluded and that a purchase agreement would now be considered by the Sioux Falls City Council on Aug. 4.

"This monumental achievement for our city certainly has been a long time in the making, but the effort by so many has now paid off in a huge way," said Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether. “With the agreement on the terms of the sale, we are a giant step closer to redeveloping that critical piece of our downtown."

The agreement calls for removing the majority of the rail yard in downtown and opening more than 10 acres of property for redevelopment, Sioux Falls officials said. BNSF will construct two siding tracks along a mainline track north of Rice Street and west of Timberline Road, and maintain two mainline tracks though the city's downtown area.

If the agreement is approved by the city council, Sioux Falls will take full possession of the property in two years, following BNSF's completion of the siding tracks.

$27M rail yard relocation deal 'game changing' for city

Joe Sneve, [e-mail] 10:53 p.m. CDT July 22, 2015

Sioux Falls plans to pay $27.3 million to BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) in exchange for about 10 acres of a downtown rail yard. Both business boosters and city officials say the deal will usher in a new phase of development in the heart of downtown.
....

The deal — expected to spur as much as $100 million in new downtown development — uses funds from $40 million in federal funding secured by Sens. John Thune and Tim Johnson in 2005, and caps nearly two decades of work on the project.

South Dakota’s Railroads: An Historic Context

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at Trains magazine

South Dakota State Railroad Map

[elleng]

1. what the hell for?

and capital one is out???

[misterhighwasted]

3. Guess those 750 Tech employees will be driving dump trucks now. Its a RW Jobs Bill

And they will brag about the hundreds of jobs this will create & be silent as to the Tech jobs lost to Cap One pulling out.

[liberal N proud]

2. Federal highway funds to purchase land for redevelopment?

Sounds about as asinine as the republicans trying to kill Obamacare with a must pass highway bill. Neither have anything to do with highways and I imagine, the redevelopment is a political favor.