LAYTON, Utah -- A 104-year-old train station has a new lease on life as a restaurant that also serves to turn a FrontRunner stop into a destination.
Layton City worked with a local contractor to rebuild their historic train station, which had fallen into disrepair in recent years.
The station, built in 1912, was slated for demolition by UDOT when it was in the way of road reconstruction, but the city stepped in, moved the building, and sought a buyer with a vision for the area.
"I'd say for Layton City and this part of downtown, this is very important," Mayor Bob Stevenson said.
Contractor Jared Nielson worked with business partners to refurbish the station.
"The building had been deserted for a number of years," he said. "It had pigeons living in it."
Now it's a new location for Cafe Sabor, a Mexican restaurant with locations in Logan, Bear Lake, Idaho Falls, and Island Park, Idaho.
"Someone from the Salt Lake area can come here, get off the train and go right to the restaurant," Stevenson said.
It was a labor of love for Nielson, who was able to maintain 85 to 90 percent of the original materials on the exterior of the station.
"The areas we did have to replace, we ended up using the same type of wood that was used back in the early 1900s, and we had special mill blades made to cut the same profile," Nielson said.
Cafe Sabor, 200 South Main Street, is adjacent to the FrontRunner station in Layton.
