In a typical year, Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, the second-busiest train station in the United States, sees 40 million visitors. But for many of those tourists coming to the nation’s capital, their first impression is one of decline. The 435K SF station is filled with retail spaces, but not with retailers. The retail reckoning followed by the pandemic has reduced the once-bustling Daniel Burnham-designed rail hub to a shell of its former self. That is part of the reason why Amtrak moved to seize control of Union Station using eminent domain, taking aim at the longtime operator of the retail space: Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. The legal action is just the latest facing Ashkenazy, which has been fighting debtors, partners, local governments and, yes, a railroad operator controlled by the federal government, for control of its ample retail portfolio. 
At Union Station, Ashkenazy has fended off two foreclosure attempts, the most recent of which was avoided in January thanks to a funding injection from South Korea’s Kookmin Bank. It has been less successful at some of its other properties,…  Read the full story here. | 
