New York City’s latest mega development—Hudson Yards—covered acres of train tracks and industrial land with a 37,000 ton platform allowing for the (re)development of 45 square blocks of prime New York City real estate. There are criticisms of Hudson Yards, but it is also seen as a case study in innovative finance and the use of value capture to fund affordable housing, green space, and transit and street infrastructure.
To reconnect two major Atlanta employment districts, the Downtown Atlanta Master Plan suggests putting a cap on Interstate 85which runs below grade between Midtown and Downtown Atlanta. Value capture from new development proximate to the area’s MARTA station could help fund the project.
This month, Building Better Communities with Transit is all about value capture. We chat with Professor Deborah Salon of Arizona State University her research on the topic and how institutional structure, entrepreneurship, and creativity play into successfully using value capture.
A month before a new streetcar line is scheduled to open in Milwaukee, WI, Mayor Tom Barrett and city officials are touting new city data showing a 27.9 percent increase in property values since construction of the line was announced in 2015 compared with a citywide increase of 13.4 percent over the same time period.
This month on Building Better Communities with Transit we’re joined by Bill Sirois, Senior Manager, Transit Oriented Communities with RTD in Denver. Bill chats about the success of the transit agency’s TOD program, the project to rehabilitate the historic Union Station (and the area surrounding it), and what comes next when the current period of transit expansion comes to a close.
To streamline interjurisdictional planning along rapid transit corridors, Miami-Dade County adopted a “Rapid Transit Zone” (RTZ) ordinance in which gives permitting and zoning jurisdiction for county-owned properties near designated transit to the county instead of each independent city.
This month on Building Better Communities with Transit, our host Jeff Wood talks with Stan Wall of HR&A Advisors about value capture is and the NoMa–Gallaudet U station in Washington, DC. According to Stan, that station is “the most textbook, beautiful example of the possibilities in creating value and leveraging that to extreme positive benefit for a city.”
A new report finds that demand for residential and office space within a half-mile of Atlanta’s MARTA stations is “insatiable.” The result is a great deal of new value in that land and new developments which could be captured and put back into transit or be used to fund affordable housing around transit.
This month on Building Better Communities with Transit we’re joined by the Executive Director of the KC Streetcar Authority, Tom Gerend. In 2016, Kansas City, MO opened the first streetcar the city has seen in almost 60 years and transformed the city’s downtown. Former skeptics of the line are now some of the KC Streetcar’s biggest proponents as businesses have boomed and more people are moving to—and spending money in—the center city. The 2.2 mile KC Streetcar, akin to a downtown circulator, is “a demonstration of the possible.”
Last week, we had an opportunity to connect with some members of the TOD Peer Network in person at the 2018 LOCUS Leadership Summit. In asking about the challenges they faced at home, one issue came up again and again: affordable housing.