The building that houses the Greyhound bus station on Congress Street has been put on the market. The Boulos Company is accepting offers for the site through Dec. 19. Michael Kelley / The Forecaster
PORTLAND — The longtime home of the Greyhound Bus terminal is on the market, leaving the future of Greyhound operations in the city up in the air.
“We don’t have a set asking price. What we are doing is a call for offers and having potential buyers submit offers by Dec. 19 and make a decision and close pretty soon after,” said Nate Stevens, a partner and broker with The Boulos Company.
The station at 950 Congress St. provides bus service to Lewiston, Augusta, Waterville and the Bangor area to the north and Wells, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Boston, Massachusetts, to the south. It also provides package shipping services.
Crystal Booker, communication specialist for Greyhound Lines Inc., said it is premature to talk about Greyhound’s Portland operations after the building sells.
“As we continue service to Portland, it is too early to discuss any details regarding any changes in service locations at this time,” she said. “We serve approximately 10,000 customers from this location, incoming and departing, each year.”
Don McCrillis, who operates the station on behalf of Greyhound, would like to stay there, if possible.
“I am going to try to continue to operate, if the new owners will lease it back to me,” he said. “I am leasing it from Greyhound now.”
The station is located at the busy intersection of St. John and Congress streets, which, according to Boulos, sees more than 32,000 vehicles pass through everyday.
“Its a pretty amazing corner,” Stevens said. “It’s pretty iconic. A lot of people pass by and it has amazing visibility on St. John and Congress streets. There is quite a bit happening in that neighborhood with the Maine Medical expansion. It will interesting to see what happens.”
The building, constructed in 1961, has been owned by Atlanta-based GLI Real Estate Company, a subsidy of Greyhound, since 1987.
Stevens said the site could stay as a bus station after the sale, but the layout of the lot has development potential.
“It is a 2,000-square-foot building on a half-acre lot, so there is a lot that can be done there,” he said.
The underlying zone, Community Business Zone, would allow for a variety of uses, including residences, retail or commercial offices, professional services, restaurants, hotels/motels, health facilities, bakeries or breweries, marijuana businesses and by conditional use, drive-thrus. The purpose of the Community Business Zone, according to the land use code, is “to provide appropriate locations for the development and operation of community centers offering a mixture of commercial uses, housing and services serving the adjoining neighborhoods and the larger community.”
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