Maine Health, which owns Maine Medical Center, recently purchased the Greyhound bus station on the corner of St. John and Congress streets. Michael Kelley / The Forecaster
PORTLAND — Maine Health, Maine Medical Center’s parent company, bought the Greyhound bus station at 950 Congress St. for $1.4 million last month. The property will continue to be used as a bus station for the time being.
“(Maine Medical Center) has no immediate plans for the property, and has leased it back to the longtime Greyhound manager, who plans to continue operating the bus service from that location,” said Matt Wickenheiser, the hospital’s senior manager for communications and public affairs.
The property had been owned by Atlanta-based GLI Realty Company, a subsidiary of Greyhound, and was placed on the market in late fall via sealed bid.
“There was considerable interest in the listing, all local,” said Boulos Company partner/broker Nate Stevens, who represented Greyhound in the sale.
More than 32,000 vehicles each day pass the property, located at the busy intersection of St. John and Congress streets. Prospective buyers ranged from area developers looking to raze the building for redevelopment to smaller parties who wanted to repurpose the existing building, he said.
The Greyhound station provides bus service to Lewiston, Augusta, Waterville and the Bangor area to the north and Wells, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Boston to the south. It serves approximately 10,000 incoming and departing customers annually, along with package shipping services, according to Crystal Booker, communication specialist for Greyhound Lines Inc.
Although Greyhound has suspended services to more than 120 locations across the country because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Portland bus station remains open for business.
Maine Health owns several other properties around the hospital, Wickenheiser said, including the 942 Congress St. building that abuts the station and houses Pizza Villa. The side of that building features a large Greyhound mural.
The 950 Congress St. site is on the very western edge of a city zone that Maine Medical Center indicated as a “potential future redevelopment” area in its 2017 Institutional Development Plan.
If redeveloped, allowed uses of the property under city zoning regulations include residences, retail or commercial offices, professional services, restaurants, hotels/motels, health facilities, bakeries or breweries, marijuana businesses and, by conditional use, drive-thrus.
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