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Pine River Ceremonial groundbreaking was held on May 20.
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Peeling paint and rotted boards will be a thing of the past following the long-awaited Pine River Depot move and restoration happening this summer.
For those who doubted anything would ever be done with the Pine River Depot the time for change draws near.
State and county representatives, architects and Gopher State Contractors met last week to discuss the construction start date this summer for the depot relocation and restoration.
In April, the Cass County Board - serving as the fiscal agent for the project's grants - awarded a bid to Gopher State Contractors, of Rice, Minn., to move the depot.
Although the definitive construction start date isn't established yet, it will probably happen in the next three weeks, according to Tim Bray of the Minnesota Depart-ment of Transportation.
The contractor needs to secure building permits from the City of Pine River prior to starting construction.
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Pictured is what the Pine River Depot will look like following its reolcation and restoration. Courtsey MacDonald & Mack Architects
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The project will relocate the depot on the other side of the Paul Bunyan Trail - near its current location - and flip it 180 degrees from its current orientation.
The depot will sit atop a full basement and be restored to its early 1900s appearance.
Aside from window and door replacement, siding repair and repainting, the project will include the addition of a canopy on the north side of the building and addition of two brick chimneys and a salvaged brick platform.
The roof will have wood shingles.
Sewer and water lines will be extended to the building for future plumbing hookups.
The interior of the building will be completed at a later date, according to Amy Meller, architect with MacDonald & Mack, architects for the project.
The historic depot has been making local news reports for the last decade - from the city's attempts to condemn the building in 2000 - to the depot ownership changing hands from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to MnDOT - to 2001 when the depot was deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that the Remer Soo Line Depot has achieved.
Fast forward to April of 2008 when the Pine River City Council voted to take ownership of the depot and signed a cooperative construction agreement with MnDOT for the exterior restoration of the depot.
And, now, in 2009, the funding is in place for the long-awaited restoration.
The project has received $362,000-worth of funding (a $250,000 Minnesota Transportation History Network grant and an additional $112,000 grant from Mn/DOT).
Construction is a long-awaited step for depot supporters in Pine River - who will soon be able to monitor the project's progress themselves.
