Western Railroad Discussion > L.A. Olympics = bye bye to UP's historic Shops Yard?

There's been a lot of stories surfacing on the news the past few days about L.A. trying to get the Olympics here in 2024.     Two of the main issues being hammered out is the cost to host such an event and where to house and entertain the athletes.   The UP Shops Yard adjacent to Union Station is said to be the place a new community would be built to accommodate the above.    I recall a year or so ago some talk about UP selling that prime land and moving their intermodal operations to ________?    Don't know if UP is still interested in unloading the property and I'm sure there's much more to the story.   Keep in mind most of UP's intermodal trains using that yard usually head east.   So maybe moving such an operation further east would cut down transit times, but add drayage times to loads heading to downtown, West L.A., and the northern L.A. valleys.   UPS also uses the facility and that could have an influence.

On a personal note, I'd hate to see the Shops Yard go, as it was the beginnings of my interest in SP intermodal operations and always a great greeting on Amtrak as one threaded their way south to beach communities.

I'm surprised they've held on to that property all these years, given its location and very high value.  That said, I don't think there's a chance in hell LA will be awarded the Olympics,  even if LA is picked at the USA candidate.  And the latter is in question now that the City Council has actually started looking at the proposal, contract, etc.   Not to mention the lawsuits that will arise if the city guarantees any shortfalls to be met with public funds.  People forget that the main reason LA got the Olympics in 1984 was that no other city in the world wanted it.....and there was no public funding guarantee.   My bet is Paris will get the bid in the end.

The OLD shops has a lot of contamination in the ground...
From paint, oil, lead and other stuff. I would not want to live their...

AMK SDP40f
Spring,

Re: contamination cleanup.

Just look at the massive delays and costs in cleaning up the abandoned Sacramento old SP rail yard.

Has been going on for years and only now is it progressing
at an unknown cost.

Posted from iPhone

UP has said no, no, and no we're not interested, let's see LA try eminent domain for
the stinkin' Oympics not to mention the already oft quoted $1B+ for costs.

Out

What's "historic" about it?

Realist Wrote:
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> What's "historic" about it?

Nothing

Too bad SP sold off all that land at the west end of Colton Yard..Would have made a Great Intermodal Yard.

Good luck getting that ground through any sort of EIR process. 

Have fun, be safe,
Bruce "Doc" Jones  Sierra Madre CA

lloydnet Wrote:
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> Too bad SP sold off all that land at the west end
> of Colton Yard..Would have made a Great Intermodal
> Yard.

No, way too far away from LA for dray companies

WAF Wrote:
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> lloydnet Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Too bad SP sold off all that land at the west
> end
> > of Colton Yard..Would have made a Great
> Intermodal
> > Yard.
>
> No, way too far away from LA for dray companies

The Inland Empire area of the LA Basin has the largest concentration of big-box DCs (Distribution Centers) in the world: roughly a half BILLION sf and growing rapidly every year. BNSF has recognized this and is the process of a major expansion at its San Bernardino ramp.  They are in escrow on the old California Portland Cement land east of Slover Avenue, accessed from an inactive spur off their main just below Colton Crossing.  Once that is done (if it can overcome environmental hurdles) the plan is to move the vehicle traffic out of San Berdoo south yard there, along with a transload operation, and turn the San Berdoo vehicle yard into more intermodal space.  The ultimate goal is a facility with as much capacity as Hobart.  Current capacity at San Berdoo is about 600,000 lifts/year.  This was the level prior to the recession; it dropped during the recession but now appears to be at or close to that again.  This is more capacity than UP has at any of its individual ramps in the LA Basin and in fact on the entire system.

Currently UP is draying more domestic boxes out of Redlands (the Doughnut Hole), San Bernardino, Fontana, Rialto, Chino, Mira Loma, Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris, etc than all the rest of the LA Basin, back to City of Industry, East LA and LATC (the Shops).  The drayage costs are big, and play a big role in whether or not truckers choose intermodal on shorter hauls (ie: I5, SLC, Denver).  UP has recognized the challenge but has been unwilling to spend the money on land.  Ever since the SP acquisition they have looked at land between Banning on the east, Devore on the north, and the I-15 on the west for a ramp.  A number of my industrial real estate broker buddies have spent more time than they wanted to showing UP every available parcel of land.  Land costs when UP acquired SP were about $10/sf; they fell to about $7/sf in the dotcom bust of the early 90s, rose up to about $15/sf prior to the recession, fell to about $8/sf at the low point of the recession.  Now they are around $18/sf or more.  Of courese those numbers vary depending on Banning vs. Ontario, etc.  But in general, UP has been unwilling to spend that kind of money on land.  By contrast, I have heard the Global IV land was around $1.50/sf, though not sure.  Had UP bought land in 2001 or 2010 it would have been able to get anywhere between 300 and 500 acres of land for about half or less of what it would cost now.  There is no longer that much undeveloped land available unless UP were to pay a tremendous premium for entitled land or land with new DCs on it.  A major blunder in my humble opinion. 

Were UP to have an Inland Empire ramp, it would probably save anywhere between $50 and $120 per dray (or its customers would), and probably garner a much larger share of intermodal traffic in the LA Basin.  Oh well....

And a little aside: my sources tell me UP paid last year over $30/sf for 10 acres of land - now vacant- at the southwest corner of LATC for more expansion.  Go figure. 

Bruce

Are we talking about SP's old Mission Coach Yard?

Posted from iPhone

Getting back to the "Shops Yard"--where is this in relation to the historic Edison Electric power plant building?  It's north of the tracks heading for Colton and on the west side of the I-5 freeway.  It hasn't generated a kilowatt in over 85 years, but it was the first generating station using steam turbine power in Los Angeles.  It no longer belongs to So. Calif. Edison, and it has had a variety of uses, but it represents a big step in the growth of Los Angeles.

DNRY122 Wrote:
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> Getting back to the "Shops Yard"--where is this in
> relation to the historic Edison Electric power
> plant building?  It's north of the tracks heading
> for Colton and on the west side of the I-5
> freeway.  It hasn't generated a kilowatt in over
> 85 years, but it was the first generating station
> using steam turbine power in Los Angeles.  It no
> longer belongs to So. Calif. Edison, and it has
> had a variety of uses, but it represents a big
> step in the growth of Los Angeles.

On this Google map, the powerhouse is shown as The Brewery, with the Shops Yard to the south-  https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0613456,-118.2201121,17z/data=!3m1!1e3   I couldn't get a link for Street View.

mapboy