The owner of the old Trailways Bus Station near Downtown Pensacola is asking the city of Pensacola for permission to tear it down.
The historic building is one of three architecturally significant structures unique to Pensacola’s past that are on the agenda for demolition, but it’s the only property that has the potential to be protected from the wrecking ball.
Immanuel Lutheran Church owns the parcel known as the Trailways Bus Station, located at 301 N. Baylen Street in Pensacola. On behalf of the church, Mattair Construction has petitioned the city’s Architectural Review Board to demolish the building so it can begin “reorienting the property to overflow parking.”
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“The 1962 built structure is in a status of disrepair,” Christi Colabianchi with Mattair Construction wrote in the request. “The structure needs to be demolished and has become a safety liability in what is currently being used for the church overflow parking area.”
The church needs permission from the board to tear down the former bus station because it’s in the Palafox Historic Business District and falls under the ARB’s purview to review. The designation means the board will use special land development codes to guide them as they evaluate the property owner’s request. Those codes include determining the historical and architectural significance of the building, as well as taking a closer look at what replacement plans the owner has for it. So far, no replacement plans have been submitted.
“We are asking the board to waive the requirements for replacement plans at the initial meeting,” wrote Colabianchi. “We would like to be approved for demolition to justify the cost to hire a civil engineering firm to reorient the property to overflow parking, storm water drainage, buffers and landscaping that meets City of Pensacola development code.”
Ross Pristera, a historian with the University of West Florida Historic Trust and advisor to the city’s Architectural Review Board, has asked the board to review the request because of the building’s age and architectural style. He said its significance makes it a contributing structure to the Palafox Historic Business District and despite being 60 years old and neglected, the bus station has remained relatively unchanged.
“You look around and you’re not going to find another building like that architectural style,” said Pristera. “It was built as a bus station, so it had a specific use. Bus stations don’t look like that anymore. It represents the modernist architecture used during that time period just perfectly and it lends itself to other uses. “
Before making a decision, Pristera said he expects the board will need to assess the building, determine the extent of the damage to see if it can still be saved and weigh all the options of what can be done with it.
“It’s a cool, funky little architectural piece of the past," he said. “It is a great little building that represents a period of architecture and commerce that otherwise is not found in the Palafox Historic Business District."
Pristera also pointed out to the ARB that other smaller, transportation-style buildings have been repurposed in the city. One is a fitness club that recently opened in an old gas station and repair garage at 600 E. Cervantes St. He said he is also working with the owner of an old gas station at 500 W. Jackson St. — a building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places — to restore the building for a new business.
“These buildings have potential and are perfect for small businesses,” Pristera wrote the board.“I hate seeing good buildings being replaced, especially with parking lots.As the two examples I mentioned show, they have the potential to be income producing and job creating properties.You can't easily say the same about parking lots.”
Demolition could be approved if the building is determined to be unsafe or it could be ordered that it be brought to a safe condition. Pristera said it’s likely there will be discussion about the old bus station at next week’s meeting because they don’t yet have replacement plans from the property owner and it’s such a unique building. It’s possible the demolition request will be denied until the applicant comes back with more information.
There are also two other demolition requests on the agenda, houses that are not located within historic districts and thus don’t have the same protections as the Trailways Bus Station. Historic advisors to the ARB have asked the board to review the two other requests, as well, because they say the homes are historically and architecturally significant. One is a home that dates to the early 1910s located at 702 N. “E” St. It meets the criteria for the National Register of Historic Places in part because the first owner was a former city commissioner and police chief.
The other house is at 1401 N. 20th Ave. in East Hill, and is a historic structure unique to the time it was built in the neighborhood’s development of Bayview Park. Although Pristera said it also has the potential to meet NRHP criteria, even if the ARB agrees that the houses shouldn’t be demolished all they can do is delay the demolition, not stop it, because there are no special protection codes.
Immanuel Lutheran Church and Mattair Construction have not responded to requests for comment on the Trailways Bus Station. The three properties are on the agenda for discussion at the Architectural Review Board's next meeting 2 p.m. March 16, at City Hall.
