Using residential real estate to raise revenue for new transit.

[finehoe]

Transit agencies in the U.S. looking to expand rail lines are getting into the real-estate-development business to raise revenue.

In Atlanta, the regional transit agency is considering three possible expansion plans for its rail line, which opened in 1979 and services more than 100 miles of track. But the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has struggled because revenue from a county sales tax that provides a large portion of the system's funding dropped during the recession and has increased slowly since then.

The authority is targeting underutilized parking lots near train stations for mixed-use development. It is negotiating leases for three parcels with developers who are planning to add more than 1,400 residential units and about 50,000 square feet of retail space.

Atlanta has company. Cash-strapped public transit systems in other cities such as Washington and San Francisco have moved to take advantage of the rise in values of property near train stations.

"Now that the market has provided such huge price premiums for walkable urban development, much of which is rail-transit-served, now we can take advantage of that to help pay for these expansions."

http://online.wsj.com/articles/transit-agencies-get-creative-1406668928