Union Station gets $1 million from Haverty Foundation for festival space

A $1 million gift to Union Station will nearly complete an expansion project with a new outdoor concert and festival space, station officials announced Thursday.

The space will open next spring in the area between new outdoor exhibits at Science City and the station’s parking garage.

The donation is from the Michael and Marlys Haverty Family Foundation. Mike Haverty has been a longtime supporter of Union Station and was chairman of the station’s board when its financial situation turned from chronic deficits to a self-sustaining operation.

The landscaped festival plaza is part of the station’s nearly $8 million expansion that included a new traffic and pedestrian bridge linking Pershing Road to the top level of the parking garage. The project has relied on private funding encouraged by $2.25 million in state tax credits.

The new festival space will be called “Haverty Family Yards” and will occupy the area where 18 separate tracks once brought trains to Union Station passengers.

“That was the project they were trying to complete,” said Harverty, a fourth-generation railroader who was chief executive officer of Kansas City Southern Railway during its period of growth and stability. “That seemed appropriate to me because it was the rail yard where the tracks came under the station. That was probably the place we would have wanted to do it anyway.”

The Haverty foundation gift will also allow Union Station to create an indoor gallery to house paintings depicting the 12 original railroads that formed a consortium to create Union Station in 1914.

This story was originally published November 10, 2016 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Union Station gets $1 million from Haverty Foundation for festival space."