Two international design firms have been chosen by the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority to develop new conceptual designs for a downtown Toledo bus hub, with their first focus to be on possible conversion of The Blade building.

The transit authority’s board of trustees Thursday accepted a recommendation by James Gee, TARTA’s general manager, to pay a joint venture of AECOM and Parsons Brinckerhoff up to $90,000 for “on-call” architectural services related to the proposed project.

The “on-call” designation, Mr. Gee told the transit board, means the work won’t be limited to a single project location, so if The Blade building at 541 N. Superior St. falls out of consideration, the contract will still be valid for work related to any other sites that might be identified.

“It’s not site-specific,” Mr. Gee confirmed in an interview after the board meeting. “But the first area we will look at will be The Blade building.”

The architects’ work, he said, will be “fleshing out a concept of what it would look like” if The Blade’s 90-year home were to be repurposed.

That possibility came to light in late August when the transit authority and the newspaper confirmed they had held discussions about it, although both said at the time that the matter was in a very preliminary stage.

Bill Southern, The Blade’s president and general manager, said Thursday that since then, “there really hasn’t been a lot of movement.”

“We’re exploring options. There’s nothing definitive at this point — it’s more at the conceptual stage,” Mr. Southern said.

The Blade has not reached the point, he said, of determining what its asking price might be for the building.

TARTA has sought for years to implement a consultant’s recommendation that it create a central downtown bus station in place of its existing five-stop loop through Toledo’s central business district.

Two previous proposed sites were near One Government Center, which TARTA favors because of its importance as a destination for many bus riders.

But a proposal to build a bus station on what is now a surface parking lot bounded by Superior, Adams, Huron, and Jackson streets was dropped after nearby merchants opposed it.

A subsequent plan to convert half of the Jackson Street boulevard for bus-station use was opposed by members of city council and The Blade for its impact on one of Toledo’s most prominent civic spaces.

Mr. Gee said that if TARTA were to acquire The Blade building, any renovation project would “preserve not only the facade but the character of the building” while making its interior useful for transit service.

“The property and the building is a great opportunity for us,” the transit manager said. “For downtown Toledo, this is a once-in-a-generation project, and we need to make sure we do it right, do it well.”

AECOM and Parsons Brinckerhoff were chosen from among seven firms that submitted proposals for the conceptual design, Mr. Gee told the TARTA board.

Four local design firms were among the passed-over applicants. 

Mr. Gee said TARTA would be working with Cleveland offices from the two winning companies.

Parsons has worked on numerous transportation-related engineering projects around the world, including some, like Boston’s “Big Dig,” that have been controversial for cost overruns and construction problems.

AECOM’s design resume includes restoration of the Tariff Building in Washington as a 172-room luxury hotel, master plans for Rio de Janeiro Olympics facilities, and the University of Miami (Fla.)’s basketball arena.

Contact David Patch at: dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.

First Published December 2, 2016, 5:00 a.m.