Transit Value Capture Coordination: Case Studies, Best Practices, and Recommendations

This study is based on the hypothesis that coordination between transit capital planners, municipal taxation authorities, and private developers and stakeholders can be a benefit to transit capital projects that choose to use value capture as a funding mechanism. Value capture is the means by which the increase in property or other values is tied to investments in infrastructure and other amenities and, through taxation or other agreements beneficiaries of the increase in property value help fund the improvements.

The research team engaged in case studies of projects in Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C. to observe how coordination between the relevant parties is conducted and, from the information gathered, a series of conclusions, best practices and recommendations were compiled. It is the conclusion of this study that in order for coordination of value capture mechanisms to be effective there must be a focus on both ingrained staff knowledge in the public sector as well as unique organizational attributes in the municipal and transit organizations that interface with private developers.

A team of researchers from the UTC conducted field research in 2013 and 2014 in four major U.S. cities and learned that the incorporation of value capture to fund transportation differed, often dramatically, in the markets studied.