Connect Transit officials say a $5 million federal grant gives the transit agency the funding it needs to proceed with a transfer center in downtown Bloomington, though they say it’s still too soon to predict when the facility will open.
The project that’s been in the works for nearly a decade will be scaled back based partly on higher construction costs.
“We are less looking for … a community hub. We are more sticking to the knitting and providing top-notch transportation services at that nice location right in the buckle,” said Connect Transit board chair Julie Hile, referring to the downtown location at the current site of the Market Street parking garage that is being demolished.
Hile said the redesign puts the transit center entrance at Monroe Street with 10 bus stalls adjacent to a covered outdoor waiting area. Additional waiting areas are planned inside the facility.
Ninety public parking places will be available on the Market Street level. The Bloomington Police Department plans to have an office at the site.
Hile said the transfer center will no longer have commercial space as first envisioned.
The redesign of the transfer center, she said, came after conversations with the City of Bloomington and the U.S. Postal Service announced plans to move its postal facility from that site to the 300 block of North Main Street.
Connect Transit had discussed the idea of multiple levels of public parking at the facility. That’s not included in the current plans. The city is converting the Front N' Center property a few blocks south into public surface-level parking, with hopes to develop the site in the future.
“It’s not my sense that the lack of dollars is driving these changes exclusively, it really is just a new concept and that’s part of why the redesign is taking a while,” said Hile, adding the redesign is about 30% complete.
Connect Transit has $28 million committed to the transfer center. Earlier estimates had the project as high as $38 million.
“It’s going to cover cost escalations that we are facing like everybody else who’s working on a construction project these days,” Hile said.
The latest funding, announced by U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, came from a Federal Transit Administration program that supports the purchase of zero and low-emission transit buses and the leasing of supporting facilities.
“It puts our funding fully back on target, so we are feeling really good about that,” Hile said.
Interim managing director Brady Lange said Connect Transit has $23 million in state and federal funds specifically awarded to the project, and another $5 million has been allocated from other sources, including downstate operating funds from the Illinois Department of Transportation.
“It’s a nice mix of resources that we feel is good and stable now,” Hile said.
Connect Transit had much of the funding for the transfer center secured as early as 2019, but the project was slowed by the COVID pandemic and a site shift. The center was originally going to be built at the former Pantagraph building, but a study revealed financial and logistical hurdles.
Hile said Connect Transit hopes to have designs completed by early next year and to break ground by late 2026 or early 2027.
Braun resigns
Work on Connect Transit’s signature project comes at a time of significant leadership change for the organization.
David Braun, the agency’s managing director since 2022, resigned, shortly after taking a leave of absence.
“We wish David the very best. He’s been a good colleague,” said Hile, adding the agency plans to launch a search for a new managing director nearly next year.
Lange, who joined Connect Transit in 2017 as a maintenance manager, remains acting director. He had been serving as deputy managing director since May 2024.
“We haven’t lost knowledge nor competency around delivering a project like this one,” Hile said.
Hile has been serving as board chair since October, following the sudden death of Ryan Whitehouse, who led the transit agency through much of the transfer center planning stages.
“We miss Ryan and I’m happy to say that he would be really pleased with the progress we are now making and the outlook,” Hile said.
