In its first-ever concerted effort to direct development on land it owns near or at transit stations, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) introduced its Transit Oriented Design (TOD) guidelines at a CSU Levin College forum on Feb. 22, 2007.
“We want high quality development that provides maximum linkages between transit stations and development for patrons where they’re able to walk or ride a bike (to use transit),” says Maribeth Feke, RTA Director of Programming & Planning.
Research has shown that TODs can increase transit ridership, RTA states. But perhaps more important, TOD can improve quality of life, and under the right circumstances, encourage development to occur in close proximity to existing transit facilities.
RTA is shopping three of its properties on Euclid that it says are “ripe” for a TOD—a refueling garage across from the Agora Theater, a seven-story warehouse across from Gallucci’s, and the redevelopment of the E. 120th Red Line Rapid station, all in the Euclid Corridor. While it sends out RFPs for those sites, RTA will complete an assessment of all its properties later this year, Feke added.
The location of the E. 120th station at the eastern edge of University Circle is almost certain to move closer to Little Italy, where RTA owns a parcel by Sidari's and developers, including the Carney family, own a huge surface parking lot along Mayfield Road, which they've slated for development if the station is relocated. A Cleveland Foundation and NOACA-funded study in 2007 looking at the options for moving the station, including a TOD on Lot 45, a University Circle, Inc. surface parking lot on Mayfield Road next to the rail bridge.
RTA has long sought TOD proposals, but deals were stymied when developers wanted to own the property or RTA couldn’t lend them money because of its status as a quasi-governmental body. Some proposals went "belly up” or weren’t deemed the highest and best use of the land, says Feke.
“We see the area around transit stations as a very valuable asset, so it doesn’t make sense to have a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall at Triskett or a used car lot at our Brookpark station,” she says.
RTA will provide a checklist for TOD proposals to help developers achieve land use, site design and pedestrian accessibility goals. If a proposal meets the guidelines, the agency is willing to explore new financing options, such as requests for funding for joint development as part of its capital program, as well as offering property acquisition, disposition, and management services.
“We’re trying to drive demand in a weak real estate market and close the financing gap between the federal funds that are available…but cannot be used for loan guarantees,” says RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese.
Lobbying Congress for a rule change is an option, or RTA could convince a public agency with bonding authority (such as the Port Authority) to be a project partner, says forum panelist Jeffrey Tumlin, an expert in the TOD field and Principal with San Francisco-based transit consulting firm Nelson\Nygaard.
Actually, Cleveland lays claim to one of the country’s first TODs — back in the 1920s when the Van Sweringen brothers planned development on the east side of upscale residences within walking distance of the train lines they built—known today as RTA’s Green and Blue Rapid lines. It’s proof that “Cleveland knows how to do this,” Feke said.
Strong demand along those lines in Shaker Heights has spurred a new TOD at Van Aken Boulevard and Avalon (near Lee Road), where high-priced lofts are rising above a soon-to-be updated train station. The project is part of a $60 million public-private partnership where the city invested $18 million in infrastructure that included calming nearby Chagrin Boulevard, and adding a street that bisects Shaker Town Center, a mega-block shopping center.
As part of the deal, Shaker approved a rezoning but tightened design guidelines, calling for large windows on the ground floor and specific door placements to enhance how the loft building addresses the street, says Shaker Planning Director Joyce Braverman.
Interestingly, the city’s building code was an obstacle to building it with mixed-uses— ground-floor retail space with residential above. “The code would have required it to be built to a commercial standard, so the developer decided it’s not worth it,” she says.
(Shaker will hold a March 8 public meeting on the future of its TODs)
Meanwhile, the Cleveland EcoVillage is a case where high demand for green building and a neighborhood master plan have led to early success, despite weak market conditions. The green-built EcoVillage town homes on W. 58th Street, within walking distance of the redeveloped W. 65th and Lorain Rapid Station, are the first steps in this plan, said project manager Mandy Metcalf.
If some of that mojo could wear off at W. 25th and Clark Avenue, it would please Abe Bruckman, real estate manager for Ohio City Near West Development Corp. and before that for Clark-Metro CDC. That 100% corner has the highest population density in the city, taps $157 million in disposable income (source: Social Compact), and is now a main route to Steelyard Commons.
Resources
RTA Transit Oriented Design and Joint Development
