Planning Development with Transit Projects

One of the principal objectives of a transit project is to stimulate economic development. It is desirable to have early involvement of private sector developers in the transit planning process. However, the private sector seldom becomes involved before a transit project is nearly completed, and transit planners and public officials seldom incorporate developers' decision processes into their planning in order to increase the range of economic development opportunities. This study presents a site‐development model which simulates the long‐ and short‐range decision processes of developers. These decision processes involve four steps: (1) Determination of development demand for route alignment, station location and specific parcels development; (2) analysis of site constraints on development; (3) analysis of various design and marketing options; and (4) the financial analysis of an individual project. Three uses of the model for typical development problems are illustrated using data from the King Street Station in Alexandria, Virginia, a station on the Washington, D.C., Metro System. The three applications include assessment of development potential for various locations surrounding the transit station, consideration of different project designs at the same site, and the development of the marketing strategy for a preliminary design.