A new MAX train heading to Portland’s Union Station could bring big development to the historic facility.

On Tuesday, a symbol of that promise showed itself as workers dusted off an old control tower at the train yard.

The control tower was shuttered a decade ago with all of it's ancient switching equipment locked inside.

Cargo trains no longer need the tower.

An Amtrak train pulls away from Portland's Union Station. (file photo)

But with MAX tracks headed toward Union Station, TriMet sees an opportunity.

“Could we use it for a modern use with light rail with its original intent?” asks the agency’s architect, Bob Hastings, as he explains how the brick, two-story tower can be reused to help control MAX trains.

Plans to reuse the old control tower are on pace with the Portland Public Development Commission's predictions about the crumbling, leaky train station.

“I think it's time has come,” said Lew Bowers, a senior development manager at PDC.

He says interest in Union Station is renewing as crews lay down new MAX tracks and developers see surrounding blocks ripe with opportunity.

“All of a sudden you have a critical mass of area that could really be redeveloped for a very exciting new neighborhood in the downtown. And so the station is a pivotal and crucial piece of that,” he said.

It would cost $5 million to repair and waterproof Union Station.

“And then beyond that we're probably talking another $20- to 25 million to really renovate the station so that it could be available for more contemporary uses.”

TriMet sees potential and its contractors see a fun project ahead.

“Yeah, I think I'll get some satisfaction out of that,” said John Telford of Stacy Witbeck/Kiewit Pacific, Inc., scanning the musty inside of the tower he'll soon work to rehabilitate.

New life for an old train tower could signal a renaissance for Union Station and beyond.

PDC is still hoping to convince the u-s post office in the pearl district.. to relocate to the airport.

If that happens, it would add another 13 acres to the vision of a new urban neighborhood around Union Station.