Topic: Cleveland-Area TOD Discussion

[KJP]

FYI, regarding Penn Square developments at/near East 55th and Euclid.....

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,3435.msg624192.html#msg624192

[KJP]

I just love this photo because of what its message says to me: "Once upon a time we didn't extend rail transit service to an area because it has population density. We extended it to an area to CREATE population density." This is Mayfield Road at Ivydale (just east of Lee) in Cleveland Heights in 1929 which is getting a double-track streetcar line to replace the single-tracked interurban (at right) that ran to Middlefield in Geauga County:

[KJP]

How's this for a Transit Oriented Development site (on Ontario between Carnegie and Eagle) now that the last section of old Pittsburg Avenue north of the post office is being removed?

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D12/PlanningEngineering/Documents/051911%20Hope%20Memorial%20Bridge%20East%20End.pdf

I proposed something similar (and then some!) a decade ago....

[jjames0408]

If only it would have been started a decade ago!!

[KJP]

What's the story here (from Planning Commission)?

Waiver for Enterprise Green Community mandatory requirement for compact development – Michael McBride, Community Development
http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2012/09202012/index.php

Who is Enterprise Green Community?
http://www.enterprisecommunity.com/solutions-and-innovation/enterprise-green-communities

[KJP]

Taking my cue from a discussion in the Cleveland Random Developments thread http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,3594.msg648709.html#msg648709, where housing occupancy is way up in the urban core but rents are not, making new construction unlikely. So I wonder.....

Maybe RTA or the port authority could offer lot assembly/lien removals, site cleaning, and low-interest loans to developers that build to as-yet ID'd Transit Oriented Development specs within 500 feet of transit stations or major transit intersections. It would be a widening of RTA's basic mission but still in support of it.

[Foraker]

Maybe RTA or the port authority could offer lot assembly/lien removals, site cleaning, and low-interest loans to developers that build to as-yet ID'd Transit Oriented Development specs within 500 feet of transit stations or major transit intersections. It would be a widening of RTA's basic mission but still in support of it.

Sound like a great idea, perhaps the Port Authority could assist with funding. 

[KJP]

This will be on the docket tomorrow.........

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2012/12072012/index.php

City Planning Commission
Agenda for December 7, 2012

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Buckeye-Woodhill Neighborhood Development Plan (TLCI) Presenter: TBD

A few graphics from the presentation....







And this presentation proves that not all urban planners are geeks, wonks and stiffs. Some actually have a sense of humor.......

[KJP]

Hey Progressive Insurance, are you taking note of this move by State Farm in the Dallas suburb of Richardson??

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/major-new-mixed-use-transit-development-in-the-works-for-richardson.html/

[JeTDoG]

This will be on the docket tomorrow.........

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2012/12072012/index.php

City Planning Commission
Agenda for December 7, 2012

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Buckeye-Woodhill Neighborhood Development Plan (TLCI) Presenter: TBD

Any idea if these slides ever made it online? I'd love to get a closer look at them, as these images are a bit small for the level of detail.

[KJP]

Any idea if these slides ever made it online? I'd love to get a closer look at them, as these images are a bit small for the level of detail.

http://www.noaca.org/tlciBuckeyeWoodhill.pdf (Note: this is a 50mb download!)

[MyTwoSense]

Hey Progressive Insurance, are you taking note of this move by State Farm in the Dallas suburb of Richardson??

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/major-new-mixed-use-transit-development-in-the-works-for-richardson.html/

This isn't a plus, to me, as sprawling and car centric as Dallas is!

[clvlndr]

Hey Progressive Insurance, are you taking note of this move by State Farm in the Dallas suburb of Richardson??

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/major-new-mixed-use-transit-development-in-the-works-for-richardson.html/

This isn't a plus, to me, as sprawling and car centric as Dallas is!

Even though Greater Cleveland is less sprawling than Dallas, businesses here tend to practice Cleveland tried and true developmental format: FOD (freeway oriented development), and that includes campus-like businesses like Progressive (what an paradoxical name, in this context)

[KJP]

Hey Progressive Insurance, are you taking note of this move by State Farm in the Dallas suburb of Richardson??

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/major-new-mixed-use-transit-development-in-the-works-for-richardson.html/

This isn't a plus, to me, as sprawling and car centric as Dallas is!

Yeah, OK. I would love to see a Mockingbird station-area development here (although if both Intesa and Uptown are built out, they would be comparable to Mockingbird)....
http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2012/09/mockingbird-station-laid-the-tracks-for-future-transit-oriented-developments.html/

[BuckeyeB]

Hey Progressive Insurance, are you taking note of this move by State Farm in the Dallas suburb of Richardson??

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/major-new-mixed-use-transit-development-in-the-works-for-richardson.html/

This isn't a plus, to me, as sprawling and car centric as Dallas is!

Yeah, OK. I would love to see a Mockingbird station-area development here (although if both Intesa and Uptown are built out, they would be comparable to Mockingbird)....
http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2012/09/mockingbird-station-laid-the-tracks-for-future-transit-oriented-developments.html/

I was at Mockingbird Lane in 1998 and it was development in every direction as far as the eye could see. A little later, when I was on a radio show in Columbus on transit/rail a Buckeye Policy type tried to say no development occurred at train stations, I said that was simply not true and referenced Mockingbird lane, saying I saw with my own two eyes the development going on there. That shot him down.

[KJP]

The Buckeye Policy Institute also has denied the existence of the earth and sky.

[KJP]

This story also has some important TOD aspects to it......

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/01/clevelands_urban_scene_gets_a.html#incart_river_default

[BuckeyeB]

The Buckeye Policy Institute also has denied the existence of the earth and sky.

Yes and they believe the Earth is flat. May they fall over the edge.

[KJP]

Did you know that Denver has a $15 million transit oriented development fund to reduce the credit needed to acquire land and building housing near transit lines? It's true!
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22816092/urban-land-conservancy-build-affordable-housing-east-rail#ixzz2NzbQRVuU

Given our challenges to develop near rail stations despite the shortage of multi-family housing and the region's above-national-average transportation costs, why doesn't Cleveland have such a fund?
http://www.cnt.org/repository/BUILT-Cleveland.FINAL.pdf

[StrapHanger]

^Actually, I don't know if we need a fund like Denver's.  There's actually a fair amount of high density affordable housing being built/preserved near transit in Cleveland these days, as it is. I'd rather see increased subsidy go towards market rate housing in our most stable transit-accessible neighborhoods.  And to be fair, there is already a quite a bit of subsidy going in this direction too (ergo, FEB, Uptown, downtown apartment conversions, Upper Chester, etc.).

[KJP]

^Actually, I don't know if we need a fund like Denver's.  There's actually a fair amount of high density affordable housing being built/preserved near transit in Cleveland these days, as it is. I'd rather see increased subsidy go towards market rate housing in our most stable transit-accessible neighborhoods.  And to be fair, there is already a quite a bit of subsidy going in this direction too (ergo, FEB, Uptown, downtown apartment conversions, Upper Chester, etc.).

Denver also has a similar pace of TOD, if not more than Cleveland does. So I'm thinking that some of the really troubled (polluted, lien-heavy, etc) sites like those near West 117th, West Boulevard, West 65th/Lorain, East 55th, East 79th (Red and Blue/Green lines), Woodhill, East 105th/Quincy and East 116th stations could use some fiscal kickstarts to make their economics work. Otherwise the rents/demand in those troubled neighborhoods aren't sufficient to energize their lack of momentum. An incentive fund might change that.

[StrapHanger]

^I would bet Denver has much more TOD underway than Cleveland, but that's not because of their fund.  Their fund is exclusively to promote affordable housing that would otherwise be shut out of by their high value market.  That's not a problem we have here, given our rock bottom land prices, even near transit, which is why I don't think it's a good model for Cleveland.  In fact, some people think we have too much affordable housing being built in some of our prime transit-accessible neighborhoods (remember the reaction to those Euclid Ave projects?).  I think you were just citing Denver's fund a generalized example of a TOD subsidy, so my distinction is probably overboard.  But it does raise a good question about the type of TOD stimulus we should realistically be pursuing locally.

[KJP]

True enough. And my suggestion has a different foundation than Denver's -- because our rents are too low, developers cannot get financing for building housing. This is especially true in troubled neighborhoods served by rail lines.

[KJP]

Both of these would rise in University Circle between the HealthLine and the two Red Line stations, and be accessible to a transit extension to Euclid or beyond.....

Unnamed development, Stokes and Euclid (view looks east down Stokes, with Euclid running left-right in foreground)....


Intesa, Mayfield at East 115th (Little Italy Red Line station will be built just out of view to the right)....

[clvlndr]

^ nice photos (and I'm confident Intesa will be rising within a year or so) ... but we don't have to wait... A recent photo of the huge, 18-story, mixed-use Flats East Bank (FEB) development shows the RTA Waterfront Line Rapid tracks rising up in front and to the side of it... It sure would be a great visual advertisement for TOD to have that same scene with a 2 or 3-car train on those tracks rising next to this gleaming new development... It silently screams that TOD works. 


NOTE: photo is an original of Clueless, Ohio posted at this link: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,1823.4655.html
 

[KJP]

I'd like to compile a list of recently completed (since Jan. 1, 2012), under construction or scheduled to see construction by Jan. 1, 2014 of all real estate projects (buildings, parks, etc) within 500 feet of Rail and Bus Rapid Transit STATIONS (existing and funded). Can you help?

Here is what I have so far:

Advanced Energy Facility, East Cleveland -- $270 million
Cotman Vistas housing -- $6 million
East Ohio/1717 East 9th Apartments -- $65 million
Flats East Bank 21-story building Phase I -- $270 million
Flats Cleveland 8-story Aloft Hotel (Downtown/Flats) -- $48 million
Horseshoe Casino Phase I -- $350 million
Intesa/University Circle -- $60 million
Metropolitan Tower/Cuyahoga County HQ -- $200 million
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and plaza -- $32 million
University Circle Courtyard Marriott Hotel -- $27 million
Uptown Phase I -- $44.5 million
Uptown Phase II -- $21 million

[KJP]

I've noticed some news lately that shows we have some great opportunities to cause change here in Cleveland by embracing a transit-oriented development program to advance a number of public policy goals. Which ones?

You may recall the Brookings study which showed that only 26 percent of available jobs in the Greater Cleveland area were within a 90-minute (90!) transit trip of job seekers. This figure was comparable to other Ohio cities, and those in other nearby states. http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/07/11/brookings-inadequate-transit-and-sprawl-cut-off-workers-from-jobs/

Center For Neighborhood Technology also did a study which showed that Greater Cleveland had higher-than-national-average transportation costs, while having an oversupply of single-family housing and an under-supply of multi-family housing. http://www.cnt.org/repository/BUILT-Cleveland.FINAL.pdf

And the American Lung Association continues to give failing grades to Northeast Ohio's air quality http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2013/04/report_cleveland_area_sees_spi.html

I think we can start to fix this by the Cleveland Planning Commission designating areas within 1,000 feet of RTA rail and BRT stations as TOD zones with transit-supportive zoning overlays like what was done for a portion of the HealthLine. Cleveland can also take a forceful stance by requiring all new large-scale employers (X # jobs or more) and all large-scale housing developments (X # units or more) to be located within 1,000 feet of RTA rail and BRT lines, transit centers and high-capacity transit intersections. This is similar to the federal General Services Administration requiring all new federal office buildings in Washington DC to be built within walking distance of Metro rail stations.

There are other things we can do to support public policy goals. One is to extend transit into low-density job-sprawl areas, placing higher cost burdens on already financially strapped transit agencies. But a better option is to use already existing public-sector development incentives in ways that put jobs and job-seekers on existing, high-capacity transit lines such as Cleveland's Rapid transit (rail and BRT) systems.

Last week, Cleveland Development Advisors received $30 million in federal New Markets Tax Credits to aid development projects in low-income areas.http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/04/cleveland_fund_wins_30_million.html  All Aboard Ohio is urging CDA to award tax credits using a scoring process that assigns more points to applicant projects that are within 1,000 feet of rail and BRT stations.

This week, I was reminded that federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits are structured in such a way that developers cannot make money by building housing projects in low-rent markets. That means LIHTC-funded housing projects, especially for seniors, are put in outer suburbs where rents are higher but transit service is minimal if not non-existent. So we're forcing seniors to drive or sentencing them to house arrest by the structure of this program. http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/comm_planning/affordablehousing/training/web/lihtc/basics I am familiar with a senior housing development in Old Brooklyn that was abandoned because of this. I wrote an article about it five years ago http://www.cleveland.com/brooklynsun/news/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1216316333139140.xml&coll=4

And there are Location Efficient Mortgages which typically requires a local public sector sponsor (in addition to Fannie Mae) before private lenders will get involved. http://www.cnt.org/tcd/location-efficiency/lem  GCRTA is a logical one and has discussed the idea for the past six years http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/GreaterCleveland-TODGuidelines.pdf Another are Cleveland's Community Development Corporations.

[KJP]

This represents a huge opportunity to place these jobs into transit-supportive nodes of housing, jobs clusters etc. throughout Greater Cleveland, and even add a few more higher-level transit connectors (streetcars, BRT, light-rail extensions, etc) between them so that everyone who wants a job can reach them in 45 minutes or less.......

Cleveland's job drought will soon be history, study says
By Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer
on May 20, 2013 at 6:00 AM, updated May 20, 2013 at 6:08 AM

A growing medical industry, combined with manufacturing might, is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs in Northeast Ohio over the next decade.

Coupled with a coming retirement wave, the region may be facing an actual labor shortage in a few years and certainly a skills gap, according to a study being released today.

That news may elicit disbelief among the thousands of people still out of work or living on less since the Great Recession. But the region has been recovering faster than many other parts of the country, and the local economy is on track to replace all jobs lost in the recession -- though not until 2018, the study says.

READ MORE AT:
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/05/cleveland_job_drought_will_soo.html#incart_river_default

[KJP]

Tuesday, May 21, 2013 4 Comments
Taxes Too High? Try Building Walkable, Mixed-Use Development
by Angie Schmitt

Smart growth could increase Fresno’s tax revenue by 45 percent per acre. In Champaign, Illinois, it could save 23 percent per year on city services. Study after study has demonstrated: Walkable, mixed-use development is a much better deal for municipalities than car-oriented suburban development.

Smart Growth America recently conducted an analysis of research examining the impact of efficient development patterns on municipal bottom lines. The authors looked at 17 case studies, from California to Maryland, and, taken together, they say the findings clearly illustrate how walkable development leads to healthier city budgets than drivable sprawl.

For starters, smart growth is cheaper to build. On average, municipalities save about 38 percent on infrastructure costs like roads and sewers when serving compact development instead of large-lot subdivisions. Furthermore, SGA researchers say, “this figure is conservative, and many communities could save even more.” In the case studies, these upfront cost savings ranged from 20 percent to 50 percent.

READ MORE AT:
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/05/21/taxes-too-high-try-building-walkable-mixed-use-development/

[KJP]

Please discuss this Ohio City/Market Square TOD project at:
http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2492.msg679348.html#msg679348

But here's a teaser.......

[KJP]

Lessons from the desert....

http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/articles/20130603phoenix-sprawl-grow-small-viewpoints.html