BIKE: TAN Development starts around South FL Commuter Rail

[Mike Dahmus]

alan_drake wrote:

>Earlier there was a discussion on this forum about TOD around commuter rail and Tri-Rail was used as an example of zero development.  I mentioned that the equation will change once the improvements to Tri-Rail are completed.
>
Once again it's up to me to be the cold shower of reason, I guess.

Note that in Alan's article, there's no indication that one shovelful of 
dirt has been turned on these projects. A similar project in Boca Raton 
was on the drawing board for years, and nothing ever came of it. It's 
been 15 years now; and there's literally ZERO development along the 
Tri-Rail corridor. FIFTEEN YEARS. It took just a couple of years for 
things to start happening along the line in Dallas - because their line 
had strong ridership from day one, since it actually runs INTO DOWNTOWN 
WITHOUT USING SHUTTLE BUSES.

(The big news here is that a site's been leased to a developer - which 
is a bit better than nothing, but still a long ways away from actual 
development - as we know ver well around these parts).

Money quotes:

"Concerns about density and traffic killed a plan last year to redevelop 
a former jai-alai fronton near Tri-Rail's Mangonia Park station with up 
to 2,000 condos and 150,000 square feet of office and retail space.

Poticha said a balance can be struck between creating dense development around stations and preserving the character of single-family homes in nearby neighborhoods."

The key here is that, like Austin's commuter rail starter line, Tri-Rail's line doesn't run down a high-density downtown-like corridor. It runs through roughly half warehouse-sprawl and half single-family neighborhoods.

Compare and contrast to the 2000 light rail corridor, which ran down Lamar/Guadalupe, where opposition to density is nowhere near as widespread, and where it exists can generally be overcome.

- MD