COTA is finally putting pen to paper on the future of the old Greyhound bus terminal on East Town Street, a prime downtown site that has sat mostly empty since buses stopped rolling out in 2022. The new study is meant to balance long-term transit needs with the intense demand for downtown development, but city and agency officials are already warning that actual construction is still years off.
Study, timeline and funding
The transit agency has put out a call for an architecture and engineering team to study redevelopment options for the Town Street site, including different transit center layouts and mixed-use scenarios, according to Axios. The request for proposals sets a May 7 submission deadline and cites about $900,000 in federal grant money to pay for the work.
COTA expects its board to weigh a contract this summer, with the consultant’s findings targeted for completion sometime between mid- and late-2027. In other words, this phase is about testing ideas and price tags, not picking a final design or setting a construction date.
How we got here
Before it shut down, the downtown Greyhound station had become a magnet for public safety complaints. Greyhound shifted most of its operation to a smaller west-side facility at 845 N. Wilson Road in mid-2023, but that move did not exactly win fans.
Customers and neighborhood leaders slammed the new location and raised early concerns about enforcement and safety, as reported by Columbus Business First. Those tensions helped push city officials and transit planners toward a more formal, consultant-led process for figuring out what should replace the old downtown hub.
Why the site matters
The Town Street property sits right next to Columbus Commons and within easy walking distance of major employers, hotels and entertainment venues. However it is reused will affect how people move around downtown, both on foot and by bus.
Planners have already flagged the former Greyhound site as a strong candidate for transit-oriented, mixed-use development, according to LinkUS background research. The same research stresses the need to study how any new facility would plug into planned bus rapid transit corridors. That makes this consulting contract less about pretty renderings and more about writing the playbook for how downtown buses will connect to the city’s broader transit buildout.
What to expect next
For now, the big date on the calendar is May 7, when consultant proposals are due. COTA says its board will likely vote on a contract in July, and a final report could land by mid- to late-2027, according to Axios.
The first product of that work will be a set of options with cost estimates, not a shovel-ready blueprint. COTA officials have already cautioned that demolition, permitting and lining up construction money would push any actual buildout into the later 2020s. How the procurement is structured should offer the first real clue about whether the project leans more toward a pure transit hub, housing and commercial space, or some combination of both.
Legal background
The site’s recent history comes with legal baggage. In 2021, the city filed a complaint labeling the Town Street Greyhound station a public nuisance, and later moved against the company’s west-side terminal over building and zoning issues, according to a Columbus City Attorney release. Officials say those court fights and permitting disputes are among the headaches they want the consultant to help untangle as part of any redevelopment path.
In the meantime, the milestones to watch are the May proposal deadline and COTA’s July board meeting, which should reveal how quickly the study phase will move. Until the consultant puts concrete options and price tags on the table, the old Town Street station will remain one of downtown Columbus’ biggest open questions.
