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[SIZE=6]Light rails pack a punch for real estate industry[/SIZE]
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12:00 AM CST on Friday, December 10, 2010
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I guess it was a coincidence that the same week
DART started up its jazzy new light-rail line, the city of Fort Worth bailed on efforts to build its own light-rail system – aka a streetcar.
The good folks in Fort Worth were seemingly unconvinced that the starter streetcar line would be a significant economic development engine. Perhaps they're right.
But over on the Dallas side of the metro area, DART's light-rail line – now the country's largest – is credited with adding close to $8 billion to the tax rolls.
After a pause for the
recession, the Green Line is likely to put even more juice to the local
real estate business.
What a difference a couple of decades makes.
Back in the early 1980s, when DART launched the first leg of its train line, most local real estate types were as skeptical of the value of the system as Fort Worth City Council members are now.
I remember one office-building manager along North Central Expressway telling me how happy the landlord was that the new DART rail station wasn't near their property.
How's that working out for you, chief?
Anyone who's traveled farther than Waco should know that transit systems – just like airports and major thoroughfares – are
Red Bull for the real estate business.
Commuter trains make it easier for employees, shoppers and visitors to access areas around the stations.
Even homebuyers and renters who don't use DART rail have told me that they like having access to the station. (Just wait until gasoline hits $4, and they'll absolutely love it.)
DART's train system has fueled the development of several big mixed-use centers, including Mockingbird Station and Park Lane in Dallas and
Richardson's Galatyn Park.
It has prompted redevelopment in downtown
Plano and downtown Garland.
In Las Colinas' Urban Center, developers have built projects or are planning ways to take advantage of the DART Orange Line that's opening in 2012.
Along the Green Line that opened this week, one developer – PRG Group – has tied up land for a mixed-use project at the Inwood rail station.
And it's just a matter of time before other projects get going.
A stronger credit market and economy would help, of course.
Next to one of the shiny new transit stations in Carrollton, I spied an empty big-box center and several tracts of raw land ideally suited for the kind of apartment and retail projects you see in West Plano and Richardson.
In the old downtown areas of
Farmers Branch and Carrollton, projects are being talked about that will help revitalize those districts.
Rail transit is still a hard sell for some critics.
They don't want it, don't like it and believe it's too expensive.
I'm sure that back in the day, opponents of East Coast and European transit systems had a long list of don't likes about those projects as well.
But the way I look at it, anyone who's riding that train – whether it's 1,000 or 10,000 commuters – isn't on the highway getting between me and where I want to go. Over time, the DART rail line is remaking the real estate landscape in North Texas, just as railroads and freeway systems did decades ago. div#article_tools_bottom a{ font-size:9px;}
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Okay, done venting.
Street Cars
