Tri-County Council's new HQ to house tenants
Delmarva Now
SALISBURY -- The Greyhound bus station relocated last week to the E.S. Adkins building on North Salisbury Boulevard -- a mere quick stop until its next move to the far east side with the Tri-County Council for the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland.
The Greyhound passenger terminal is among five or more tenants that will settle into the Tri-County Council's new headquarters on Comtek Lane off westbound Route 50, a sprawling, 75,000-square-foot office building that most recently housed the firm Powerwave Technologies Inc.
Tri-County Council closed on the 25-acre property earlier this week, ending a search for a suitable location to house agency administrative offices, affiliates and partner agencies under a single roof. The nearly $4 million purchase puts the human services agency in its first permanent home since it formed almost a decade ago, and consolidates operations of the Tri-County Council and affiliates that for years have spread about 100 employees over two counties in at least six locations.
For affiliate Shore Transit, the Lower Shore's transit authority, the move merges five operations, including a Calvert Street office and bus transfer point, and administrative space, a garage and maintenance facility at the E.S. Adkins building on North Salisbury Boulevard. Shore Transit alone spends $10,000 a month on rental spaces between Salisbury and Snow Hill, said Riggin Johnson, executive director at Shore Transit.
Shore Transit recently agreed to be the Salisbury ticketing and terminal agency for Cincinnatti-based Greyhound Bus Lines that, too, will make the move to the Comtek Lane location when the building is reconfigured, likely before the end of 2010, Johnson said.
"We anticipate nine months to a year before we get the first agency in there," Johnson said Wednesday. "There are a lot of players involved."
The Tri-County Council facilitates regional planning and development in Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties, and its affiliates are Shore Transit and the Lower Shore Workforce Alliance.
Mike Pennington, the council's executive director, was away attending a meeting earlier this week and could not comment for this article. He said earlier that agencies in the One-Stop Job Market on Mount Hermon Road, a council partner, also would be housed at the new facility. Moving to the Comtek Lane location from One-Stop are Telemon, DOORS and the job service agency, he has said.
The Maryland Transit Administration has committed $1.2 million toward the construction of a garage and maintenance facility for Shore Transit at the new location, of which Transit Authority will occupy about 12 percent, Johnson said.
"Shore Transit will have a new section; right now, we have five locations," said Johnson, who along with Pennington report to work at offices in Snow Hill. "The next step for us is to meet with the architect. We have a (request for proposals) out for transit, for the design stage."
The Comtek Lane location also is near Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, home of the Delmarva Shorebirds, a minor league baseball team. Similarly, the Greyhound bus terminal in Baltimore in recent years relocated nearby the Orioles Park at Camden Yards, providing easier access to tourists visiting the city to attend facility events. The location is also Wor-Wic Community College.
Greyhound passengers can benefit from a comfortable waiting area, a cafeteria and large restrooms at the new building
"The nice thing about the new facility is that Greyhound would be part of it," Johnson said. At the Adkins building, passengers wait for buses in an outdoor shelter, similar to those provided for short-distance bus riders. "It will be a real nice mesh, and a seamless operation for folks wanting to travel."
