The city of Evanston keeps adding brick-and-mortar reality to a long-term vision for turning former Union Pacific Railroad buildings into new community spaces. So far, the results are impressive.

An old machine shop has been transformed into a more than 16,000-square-foot community center for activities like weddings, proms and conferences. It was dedicated in February 2004.

"Once that work was done, it's been nonstop because the building has been used continuously since 2004," Jim Davis, the city's director of administrative services, said. "It's booked all the way to the end of the year."

Part of the old Union Pacific roundhouse, one of three major buildings on the Evanston Roundhouse and Railyards site, also has been converted for community use.

Davis said the machine shop is a large open space with abundant light that isn't well suited for such functions as breakout sessions and PowerPoint presentations. So the first part of roundhouse rehabilitation was intended to accommodate such activities. It also incorporates many historical features of the building's railroad past.

"At the end of the day, we didn't want to have a building that never resembled a roundhouse," he said. "And it does."

The city would like to turn the rest for the 65,000-square-foot roundhouse into a new city hall, although there is no fixed timetable for doing so.

Since the current city hall was constructed, Davis said the population of Evanston has tripled. "Today, the city staff is in three different buildings at three different locations," he said, so consolidating would be a much more efficient way to operate.

The roundhouse and machine shop, along with several smaller buildings, are owned by the city. A former power plant is still owned by Union Pacific, but Davis said there are internal discussions about using that property as well. As envisioned in a master plan, it would be made into retail space perhaps including a restaurant.

Total cost for a complete makeover of the complex eventually could top $30 million.

Most of the brick buildings on the site were constructed in 1912-13, according to the National Register of Historic Places, including the 28-stall roundhouse. It is an intact building from the steam locomotive era and is deemed a site of national significance.

Union Pacific once had several roundhouses in Wyoming. "I would say that Evanston's roundhouse was probably one of the first ones to close down," Davis said, because crews could run between Ogden and Green River without stopping. Ironically, he thinks that's the reason Evanston's roundhouse still exists.

When Evanston's roundhouse was closed in 1926, Davis said citizens pleaded with UP officials not to abandon the facility. And they listened. It was reopened in 1927, not as a roundhouse, but as a "reclamation plant" that housed rolling stock repairs and other tasks for the railroad.

It's new role helped the roundhouse survive the conversion from steam to diesel. UP closed the reclamation plant on Dec. 31, 1971. The complex was donated to the city soon thereafter and was used for many years as a tank-car repair facility.

UP spokesman Mark Davis said roundhouses in Laramie and Green River were demolished. The Cheyenne roundhouse is still owned by the railroad and some of the bays are used for historical locomotives.

The Environmental Protection Agency designated the Evanston complex a "brownfields" site. An assessment identified the presence of asbestos, lead, benzene and arsenic. Cleanup on the machine shop began in October 2002.

The EPA noted that the cleanup and redevelopment work has been a partnership involving more than 15 local, state and federal agencies in such areas as historic preservation, environmental cleanup and economic development.

Business Editor Tom Mast can be reached at tom.mast@trib.com, or call 307-266-0574. Or check out his "Two Bits Worth" blog at tribtown.trib.com/TomMast/blog