Inside the Franklin Square PATCO stop

The re-opened Franklin Square subway stop may feature a street-level station building in Franklin Square park, PATCO officials said today as they opened the long-dormant "ghost station" for a press tour.

A headhouse building in the newly refurbished park would be the more expensive of the designs now under consideration, PATCO general manager Robert Box said. A cheaper alternative would call for just reopening the stairwell on the northeast corner of Seventh and Race streets and adding an elevator.

Box said final designs should be ready in six months, with the station ready for use by late 2010 or early 2011.

The 73-year-old subway station, with a green-and-white tile motif and a gaudy orange lobby area, was last used in 1979.

Development around Franklin Square and the rebirth of the once-seedy square have convinced PATCO officials that the station will have what it lacked in the past: passengers.

Box said he expected the reopened station would initially attract about 500 additional riders to the PATCO line.

The National Constitution Center, the boom in Northern Liberties, and redevelopment of the old Metropolitan Hospital as MetroClub condominiums have brought renewed bustle to a square isolated by busy streets and Benjamin Franklin Bridge ramps.

There are no official cost estimates for the remodeling of the old subway stop, but last year, chief executive John Matheussen estimated it would cost at least $5 million to $10 million to install elevators and update the station interior.

This will be at least the fifth opening for Franklin Square Station.

It debuted in 1936 as the first Philadelphia stop on the Camden-Philadelphia rail line owned by the Delaware River Joint River Commission and operated by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co.

The station soon closed because it got little use. Increased activity on the riverfront during World War II prompted its reopening.

Closed again after the war, the station was reactivated in 1953 when the line was extended from Eighth and Market Streets to 15th and Locust Streets. It was soon closed again for lack of use. PATCO took over the line in 1969.

In 1976, when Philadelphia was a center of the nation's Bicentennial celebration, PATCO spent $1.1 million to renovate and reopen Franklin Square Station. It closed again in 1979.

The station now serves as an occasional storage site for construction crews working in the PATCO tunnel. It has electrical power to operate the dim emergency lights that remain and to provide air-compressor power for rail switches.

In the dim light, old signs remain visible, in French, Spanish and English, telling riders "How To Go PATCO" and listing 70's-era fares (75 cents to Lindenwold, 35 cents to Center City and Camden stations).

Contact staff writer Paul Nussbaum at 215-854-4587 or pnussbaum@phillynews.com