Density by Desire! Transit Oriented Development Case Study Best practice

The Tale of How Arlington Embraced

Transit and Prospered

A Presentation by

Peter L. Bass Development Advisory Services

[email protected]

© Peter L. Bass- 2003-2015

Density by Desire!DESIRE !

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Development Advisory Services © Peter L. Bass- 2003-2015

ARLINGTON TIED ITS DESTINY TO TRANSIT (METRO)

•  BACKGROUND AND WHAT’S HAPPENED

•  THE RATIONALE

•  THE TOOLS USED

•  SUCCESSES TO DATE

•  NEW CHALLENGES AND REFINEMENTS •  POSSIBLE LESSONS FOR OTHERS

PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

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BACKGROUND

WHAT IS ARLINGTON?

THE MISSING CORNER OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA!

26 square mile Virginia part of the old “diamond”

“Retrocession” in 1846

Sleepy suburb until coming of Metro in the 1970’s

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ROSSLYN – BALLSTON CORRIDOR

ONE OF FOUR COMMERCIAL CORRIDORS IN COUNTY: TYPICAL OF DC AREA

Towards DC Center

1960’S Aerial

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ROSSLYN – BALLSTON CORRIDOR

Developments by 2000

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2002

2014

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APRIL 2014

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MID 2014

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ROSSLYN THEN

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ROSSLYN NOW

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COURT HOUSE THEN

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COURT HOUSE NOW

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CLARENDON THEN

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CLARENDON NOW

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CLARENDON - MID 2014

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CLARENDON 2014

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CLARENDON NOW

Clarendon Market Common

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BALLSTON THEN


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BALLSTON NOW


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SO WHAT HAPPENED?

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THE OPPORTUNITY

COMING OF METRO: PART 1 •  GOT IN EARLY AT BEGINNING

OF THE PLANNING FOR THE SYSTEM

•  DEBATED THE IMPACTS OF DEVELOPMENT VS THE BENEFITS OF GROWTH AND DECIDED IT WANTED TO ENCOURAGE GROWTH

•  EMBARKED ON AN AMBITIOUS COMMUNITY PLANNING EFFORT

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THE OPPORTUNITY

COMING OF METRO: PART 2 •  ARLINGTON LOBBIED STRONGLY FOR ROUTES AND MORE

STATIONS:

–  Preferred underground down old commercial corridors

–  Put up $300 million local money for preferred routes and more stations

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THE OPPORTUNITY

COMING OF METRO: PART 3

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2002 – THIRTY YEARS LATER!

2014

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THE OPPORTUNITY

COMING OF METRO: PART 4

•  SEVEN STATION AREAS SLATED FOR SUBSTANTIAL DENSITY & GROWTH

•  FOCUS DENSE REDEVELOPMENT WITHIN 1/4 MILE OF METRO STATION ENTRANCES TO ENCOURAGE TRANSIT RIDERSHIP

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PRINCIPAL TOOLS REGULATING PLANS:

•  ADOPTED CORRIDOR-WIDE GENERAL LAND USE PLANS BASED ON AGREED-TO DEVELOPMENT GOALS

–  Overall “framework’’ is high density, mixed use development within 1/4 mile of closely spaced underground metro stations

–  4.0 to 10.0 F.A.R. – “bull’s eye” approach

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COUNTY LAND USE PLAN

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PRINCIPAL TOOLS

GENERAL LAND USE PLAN INDICATES THE COUNTY’S WILLINGNESS TO REZONE FOR HIGHER DENSITY IN THE 2 CORRIDORS:

–  BUT LAND REMAINS ZONED LOW DENSITY UNTIL –  SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS ARE SUBMITTED

–  CONSISTENT WITH SECTOR PLANS FOR THE SPECIFIC STATION AREA

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WHEN THE PLANNING FOR METRO STARTED

9/10 OF COUNTY REMAINED PLANNED FOR SFD RESIDENTIAL

AND OTHER LOW DENSITY

1/10 OF COUNTY (2 RAIL CORRIDORS) WERE RE-PLANNED TO ENCOURAGE MIXED-USE HIGH DENSITY DEVELOPMENT)

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ON THE GROUND

Photo - Density Curve

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SECTOR PLANS

DISTINCTIVE “URBAN VILLAGES”

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AN URBAN VILLAGE

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AN URBAN VILLAGE

Page from a Clarendon project web marketing site

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AN URBAN VILLAGE

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CLARENDON 2014

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AN URBAN VILLAGE

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AN URBAN VILLAGE

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AN URBAN VILLAGE – 2004 PLAN

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AN URBAN VILLAGE - 2014

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AN URBAN VILLAGE

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PRINCIPAL TOOLS

PROPERTY IS ONLY REZONED FOR THE HIGHER DENSITY USE SHOWN VIA A SPECIAL EXCEPTION HEARING PROCESS

(“SITE PLAN REVIEW”)

OCCURS ONLY IN CONTEXT OF SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL –  Must remain within guidelines set in the Plans

–  Must provide for various public benefits /features –  Can sometimes proffer extra benefits for added density.

–  Must survive very rigorous and extensive process of reviews

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PRINCIPAL TOOLS

Density incentives to induce desired redevelopment patterns

De minimus public investment beyond original

metro commitment

•  Developers & landowners directly absorb costs of all “public amenities” via density incentives

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PRINCIPAL TOOLS

EXAMPLES OF REQUIREMENTS: –  Wellburn Square park and retail

frontages, art

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PRINCIPAL TOOLS

EXAMPLES OF REQUIREMENTS: Clarendon Commons street, public parking, plaza , mixed use:

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SOME OF THE RESULTS

R-B CORRIDOR 1970 R-B CORRIDOR TODAY

22,000 jobs

5.5 million sf office

7,000 housing units

Over 100,000 jobs

25+ million sf office

30,000 housing units

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SOME OF THE RESULTS

R-B CORRIDOR 2000

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MID 2014

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ROSSLYN TODAY

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COURTHOUSE TODAY

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CLARENDON TODAY

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CLARENDON TODAY

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BALLSTON TODAY

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BALLSTON TODAY

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BALLSTON TODAY

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TOUR OF BALLSTON

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TOUR OF BALLSTON

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ECONOMIC/FISCAL

RETURN ON THE 1970’S METRO INVESTMENT $300 MILLION ADDED CAPITAL COST IN EARLY 1970’S

Equals $20 million/yr. long term carry

ADDED DEVELOPMENT TO DATE: OVER $10 BILLION IN AV Generates approximately $ 200 million/yr. in all sorts of added taxes/

revenues. 10 times the annual debt servicing costs – now paid off

APPROXIMATELY $1 BILLION IN PRIVATELY FUNDED “PUBLIC” BENEFITS

Obtained at Site Plan Approval stage (50 million sf. @ average of $20/sf)

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TRANSPORTATION BENEFITS

TREMENDOUS GAINS IN METRO RIDERSHIP BOTH DIRECTIONS AT STATIONS

PERCENTAGE OF CORRIDOR RESIDENTS USING METRO OR

WALKING TO WORK EXCEEDS 50% CAR OWNERSHIP RATES AVERAGE ABOUT 1.13 PER HHLD IN

THE CORRIDORS AND ARE DECLINING vs 1.75 for INNER SUBURBS

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TRANSPORTATION BENEFITS

TRAFFIC LOADS ON MAJOR SURFACE ARTERIALS HAVE NOT SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED IN THE PAST TWO DECADES

Almost all increase is on metro , bus lines and walking.

ZIPCAR & CAPITAL BIKESHARE HAVE LOCAL OPERATIONS

A wide range of TDM plans are being implemented and feasible

METRO STATION ACCESSIBLE LOCATIONS COMMAND HIGHER RENTS FOR EQUIVALENT BUILDING SPACE

10-15% premiums on residential rents for comparable buildings 20-25% rent premiums for office, with much higher sustained occupancy rates.

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REFINEMENTS

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REFINEMENTS

RETAIL ATTRACTION AND MARKETING PLANS:

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REFINEMENTS

ART AND BIDS (BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT

DISTRICTS)

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REFINEMENTS

USPO PROJECT: P3 Six different uses Historic Preservation and new Shared parking

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LESSONS FOR OTHERS

REACH FOR THE HIGHER GROUND

I think I can… I think I can… I think I can

TAKE YOUR TIME ON THE BIG “FRAMEWORK” DECISIONS

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LESSONS FOR OTHERS IMPORTANCE OF CITIZEN PROCESS AND GENERAL BUY-IN

THINK BIG AND INVOLVE ALL STAKEHOLDERS IN DIALOGUE

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LESSONS FOR OTHERS

HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS PLAN WELL BE PATIENT MAINTAIN INTEGRITY OF PLAN: ONGOING CHAMPIONS &

CULTURE BE CONSISTENT

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LESSONS FOR OTHERS

DENSITY CAN MOTIVATE THE PRIVATE SECTOR:

No eminent domain for redevelopment Density increases are a carrot Developers know what to expect A strong market definitely helps, …but you have to help create it by vision!

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www.reviewjournal.com/.../ photos/traffic.jpg

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

CONTACT INFO

Peter L. Bass Development Advisory Services [email protected] 703-967-3175

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PETER L. BASS – BRIEF BIO

Peter’s passion is urban innovation, taking on challenging projects to better our transportation systems and living environments. His experience includes work on public-private partnerships (P3s) , planning and implementation of community and transit oriented development (TOD), and large scale mixed use real estate projects. His recent work includes using locally based public-private partnerships to finance and implement streetcar systems, as well as transit oriented development. Until he recently opened his own advisory practice, Peter had been HDR’s Director, Urban Development Advisory Services, working on over ten streetcar projects nationwide, several multimodal transportation terminals and numerous TOD projects. In the early 2000’s, he had been Sr. Urban Development Specialist at Arlington County, Virginia's economic development department. In his role there, he devised new strategies and incentives for public-private efforts to further the evolution of the County's national award winning transit-oriented corridor developments. This will be the subject of his remarks today. Peter formerly worked for 30 years as advisor, manager, and principal on private and public sector urban developments in over 60 cities, 10 countries and for the World Bank, USAID and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Density by Desire! Transit Oriented Development Case Study Best practice

Real Estate

impacts of development

clarendon market common

clarendon mid

transit metro background

old commercial corridors

preferred routes

court house

dc center