City to celebrate Wabash renovation

The long-awaited $3.5 million renovation of the historic Wabash Station downtown is finished, and the city will celebrate at 10 a.m. Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The station, a former railroad depot, now serves as the hub for Columbia Transit and houses the bus system’s administrative offices.

Renovations include a covered waiting area outdoors, an expansion of interior space, refurbished historic ticket windows and heat registers, repairs to the limestone exterior and a new administrative annex.

“Wabash was old,” city transportation supervisor Bob Cundiff said. “It was very confined. (Now), we’re all in one location so we have a much more efficient operation.”

Two-thirds of the money for the project came from a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation; the rest came from proceeds of the city’s transportation sales tax.

The restoration also included work to improve the efficiency of the building. The Wabash Station is the first city-owned building to receive certification from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED.

“This is an important step in the city of Columbia, leading the way in mid-Missouri toward energy reduction and sustainability,” Public Works Director John Glascock said.