Trackside Developments (TOD Transit Oriented Developments)

Trackside Developments Catch On

The real estate arm of Metro-North, in concert with three municipalities, is planning transit-oriented communities for Mount Vernon and Harrison, as well as a third for Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County. Similarly, two private companies are planning far larger transit-oriented developments, one on Route 22 in Dutchess and the other at the Harriman Metro-North station in Orange County.

In Harrison, Metro-North has received a number of responses to its request for development proposals, said Linda Corcoran, who oversees the railroad’s transit-oriented development program. The plan involves 3.3 acres with a parking garage, high-density residential development and retail stores. “It’s premature to estimate costs for the project,” Ms. Corcoran said, “but we’re dealing with a cooperative town board, and that’s a plus.”

Here's one way to grow ridership, and revitalize downtowns.

Does anyone know the specific location they are looking at in Harrison? Otto, that's your (former) stomping ground, isnt' it?

This will be interesting to see...I don't know about the EOH planned developments, but over in Harriman they might have trouble building, as much of the area around Harriman station is state land.

I believe the Harrison site ,is that piece of open land just southeast of the station. As for state land , the state would make alot by letting the developer come in and TOD that site , an open parking doesn't generate much in revenue...so id think it be easier to get the state to approve. Of course I could be wrong knowing NY state. I have the master list of all the towns in the Tri-state with TOD plans...i'll list them from large which is 20+ blocks to medium which is 5-20 blocks.

Large TOD plans / Urban Renewal Plans

Norwalk
Bridgeport
Stamford
New Haven
White Plains

Medium TOD plans / Urban Renewal Plans - 5-20 blocks

Tarrytown
Yonkers
Mount Vernon East and West
Port Chester
Beacon
Poughkeepsie
Harriman
Suffern
Hartsdale
New Rochelle
Peekskill
Fairfield
Danbury
West Haven
Georgetown

Not sure what you're saying here. Downtown Stamford is already pretty much completely built up with Class A office space within walking distance of the station. Are you advocating that the state and/or the railroad build more of it? And South Norwalk has undergone a pretty remarkable transition from a down-at-the-heels factory district 30 years ago to a shopping and restaurant destination today.

The Development in Stamford is far from completed , its really just started. Stamford's Downtown is loose and Suburban in nature , over the next 2 decades the city hopes to transform it into a Dense city like Downtown Brooklyn as an example. This will be done with sidewalk widenings , Infill developments which would fill in the gaps, a streetcar system , and zoning changes to allow dense and higher buildings. As for Norwalk , the city has plans for a circulatory bus system , Greenway system , wider sidewalks and reopening of the Wall Street station in Downtown Norwalk. Both cities call for better access to the Waterfront.

All those gaps below would be filled with Dense Developments and the core would have higher buildings...

Stamford from the air by Tony Shi., on Flickr

Let's limit this to what MNRR actually has an involvement in, not other systems, and not what cities are doing on their own without official MNRR involvement. I.e. it should be MNRR Real Estate.

Jeff Smith wrote:Let's limit this to what MNRR actually has an involvement in, not other systems, and not what cities are doing on their own without official MNRR involvement. I.e. it should be MNRR Real Estate.

How much RE does Metro-North actually own/control? Am I right in thinking that, at least in Connecticut, the station parking lots are the property of the towns, not the state or the railroad?

I think that's probably true in New York as well; for instance, Mamaroneck owns almost all the lots if not all, including the trackside one (whereas MNRR had previously owned the station and sold it to a developer). I think the property in question would be old sidings, yards, etc. where MNRR has property.

I don't mean to stifle talk of TOD's; I just didn't want a comprehensive region wide list of coincidental developments including LIRR, NJT, and so on, only where the railroad had a more substantial role.