Report: Transit Oriented Development Leads the Market in Major Metros

"Cushman & Wakefield has released a new report that explores the consequences of rapid population growth in 10 major North American cities," reports Rayna Katz for Globe St. The report, titled Urban Development: Faster Greener Commutes Key to Sustained City Growth, "discusses the impact of intensified gridlock and slow commutes that impact work productivity and quality of life, along with the transit-oriented real estate developments helping to relieve congestion and support growth." The report examines case studies from Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington D.C.

A key finding of the report: "the majority of new commercial development, as well as residential development, in metro areas today is transit oriented."

Susan Pigg, writing for the Toronto Star, elaborates on the implications of that last point, pointing out the report's argument that "developers remain almost universally challenged by aging or insufficient infrastructure, red tape, lack of funding and NIMBYism among residents who may not want new transit lines in their backyards."

Writing for Finance-Commerce, Cali Owings points out another trend reported by Cuchman &Wakefield: " In most cities included in the report, developers report a price premium of 10-25 percent for construction of transit-oriented projects because of the location and infrastructure improvements needed. In many cities, public efforts boost TOD despite barriers."