Phoenix’s $1.4 billion, 20-mile light rail system carried its first passengers on Dec. 27th, and real estate professionals believe that development opportunities around the line\u2019s 20 stations are significant; Valley Metro, which operates the system, projects the system will initially carry 26,000 passengers a day. Phoenix is one of the last large American cities to open a mass transit rail system, but Mindy Korth, executive vice president in the Phoenix office of CB Richard Ellis Inc. believes this tardiness carries some benefits. \u201cIt\u2019s going to allow the system to institute best practices from other cities,\u201d Korth said, noting that developers should find many opportunities to build projects along the light rail corridor, which, in its first phase, runs through Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix. \u201cThey really have an unfinished canvas to work with.\u201d Indeed, Korth mentioned one project in Downtown Phoenix, One Central Park East, a 26-story office tower being developed by Mesirow Financial Real Estate Inc., that is in close proximity to a Downtown light rail station. \u201cThere is a great potential for mixed-use development along the light rail corridor,\u201d said Don Mortensen, owner & president of Light Rail Connect, which runs a Website featuring commercial real estate listings near the rail system. Mortensen got the idea for the database after hearing two lecturers speak of the important of specialization and the ripe future for transit-oriented development when he was a student in the master of real estate development program at Arizona State University. Mortensen said he and his partner in the venture, Bryan Watkins, have been fielding numerous inquiries about development possibilities along the light rail route. \u201cWe have gotten a lot of calls from developers who have built T.O.D projects in other cities, who want to do it here,\u201d Mortensen said. But transit-oriented development is certain to face some challenges, Mortensen said. Although Phoenix city officials are publicly lauding the benefits of denser development, he said he knows of one developer who encountered difficulties with zoning officials when that developer unveiled plans to build a dense development. Mixed-use development is actually moving faster in Tempe, he said, and one reason may be that the suburb has much to gain from light rail, as it connects Arizona State\u2019s main campus with the school\u2019s Downtown Phoenix campus. In the near term, development along the light rail corridor is likely to be subdued due to the credit crisis and the economic recession. But, that is not so bad, Korth contends. \u201cThere is a slowdown in the development cycle,\u201d Korth said. \u201cThat means there will be time that can be used for planning purposes. There is a silver lining to that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Phoenix’s $1.4 billion, 20-mile light rail system carried its first passengers on Dec. 27th, and real estate professionals believe that development opportunities around the line\u2019s 20 stations are significant; Valley Metro, which operates the system, projects the system will initially carry 26,000 passengers a day. Phoenix is one of the last large American cities to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1003926559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-regions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n