New AARR Vehicle Distribution Facility in North Toledo

[GlassCityPhotos]

According to the Toledo Blade, the Ann Arbor Railroad is looking to build a new vehicle distribution facility on the site of the former horse racing track in north Toledo. The site, which is on Alexis Road and across from the former Northtown mall, does not currently have rail access, but is a little west of the existing AARR north-south line. No time frame has yet been announced for completion of the project nor which vehicles would be distributed from the facility.

http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2015/1 ... ility.html

[jimnorthwood]

Good to see the possibility the property could be used for something. Much of that stretch of Alexis Road was commercial/retail for a generation, ie NorthTowne Mall et al. But it always has been and still is adjacent to industrial property to the immediate south. And aging demographics mean retail/commercial possibilities have migrated west or, to a lesser extent, east to the I-75 interchange.

[JCinSummerfield]

According to one of the articles I read, there will be no rails laid. All inventory will be moved by truck.

[jimnorthwood]

Correct, no rails laid. All truck.

[GlassCityPhotos]

Correct, no rails laid. All truck.

Unfortunately the first article early Saturday did not mention this, otherwise I probably wouldn't have posted it on this board. Maybe the new facility will still increase rail traffic at the existing AARR facilities in Toledo as some of the vehicles trucked into the new facility are transferred to the existing rail facilities for longhaul transport. Looking at it the other way, maybe the AARR is looking to get into the receiving side of the vehicle distribution business. New cars bound for the Great Lakes market from all those new factories down South or from the ports on the coasts would get unloaded at the existing rail facilities in Toledo and then trucked to dealers from this new facility. We'll just have to see as the details emerge, but any new business for the AARR should be good news even if it is not directly rail related.

[AARR]

AARR has three vehicle docks in very close proximity to each other. There's the Chrysler/Jeep ramps that can load up to 90 cars per day. Manhattan Blvd. is handling mostly inbound Chrysler vehicles (was seeing Ford vehicles for a while) and the former CSX North Yard ramps which is switched by AARR and handles GM vehicles.