A high bid of $175,000 to purchase Hopkinsville’s L&N Train Depot came from a railroad services firm whose owner said he would initially open a travel agency in the historic property with long-term consideration for making the depot a passenger train stop again.
B. Allen Brown II, president and CEO of Railmark Holdings Inc., submitted his proposal in a letter with his sealed bid to the city of Hopkinsville, which owns the depot and recently declared it surplus property because of costly estimates for the structure’s preservation. City officials estimated more than a year ago that the East Ninth Street depot building required more than $2 million in structural work. The building, constructed in 1892, has been vacant for nearly six years.
Brown attended the bid opening Wednesday morning at the Hopkinsville Municipal Center. His was one of only two bids the city received. The other bid, for $2,000, was submitted by Hopkinsville residents Andrew Troche and John W. Thompson. Their bid paperwork did not include information about plans for the depot.