Developers are high on Matthews’ and east Mecklenburg County’s growth potential whether the long-planned Silver Line through the area brings trains or buses.
A panel of developers offered optimism Thursday during an event hosted by the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition. It occurred as Charlotte-area leaders decide whether they can execute the 29-mile, 30-station light rail line amid uncertainty over funding. News about part of the plan potentially being scrapped or replaced with bus rapid transit prompted critical responses from some, including in Matthews and east Charlotte.
But the panelists, including Grubb Properties CEO Clay Grubb, said bus rapid transit would still attract developers who are eager to develop sites near public transit.
“We go where we can get people out of cars,” said Grubb, whose company works in Charlotte and more than 20 other U.S. cities.
Will bus rapid transit replace light rail in east Mecklenburg?
Charlotte’s tried for years to hold a referendum for a sales tax increase that pays for its multi-billion dollar transit plan, which includes the Silver Line and Red Line trains, improved bicycle infrastructure and fewer traffic fatalities. But that requires the blessing of the General Assembly, where Republican leaders have yet to be won over and called for more funding for roads.
Things came to a head in recent weeks when Matthews Mayor John Higdon spoke out over a reported new proposal that would dramatically cut the amount of new sales tax revenue allocated for rail, leading to the elimination of the portion of the Silver Line between uptown and Matthews.
Charlotte City Council member Ed Driggs previously told The Charlotte Observer the initial idea of putting 80-90% of that new revenue into rail “was really unacceptable” to leaders in Raleigh. Driggs didn’t specify the latest allocation proposed. WFAE reported it was just 40% for rail.
One alternative Driggs said is on the table: funding for bus rapid transit in the Silver Line corridor stretching from uptown through east Charlotte and into Matthews. An earlier plan for transit along the corridor, adopted in 2002, called for bus rapid transit but was later changed to light rail.
Light rail train cars run on a fixed track, whereas bus rapid transit involves running buses in dedicated lanes or busways that often have traffic signal priority, elevated platforms and enhanced stations.
Higdon was the loudest voice pushing back on a possible shift back to bus rapid transit, saying it wouldn’t spur economic growth like rail.
Developers: ‘Certainty of timing and funding’ can spark growth
But Jon Morris, senior partner at the North Carolina-based developer Beacon Partners, said on Thursday’s panel he’s “fascinated” by the bus rapid transit option because of the “certainty” it could provide developers and those who finance their projects.
“You have to have certainty of timing and funding. You got to know the mode of transportation is going to go and when it’s going to happen,” he said.
Grubb said it’s critical for cities like Charlotte to find an option they can pay for, noting his company has scaled back its work in communities such as Nashville and Raleigh because they haven’t figured out how to finance transit.
“Anytime we can get people out of cars, it makes it much more cost effective for us to build our product,” he said. “And we can provide a product that’s much more accessible.”
“There are a lot of advantages of bus rapid transit,” Campbell Smith of the Trammell Crow Company said, for mixed-use developments that include retail as well as housing. Smith said his company has developed properties near bus rapid transit in other cities and found it to be less expensive and “less disruptive” than light rail.
“Placemaking is a big thing,” he said. “And honestly, you can create a better place, I think, with bus rapid transit.”
Morris said he’s encouraged by other communities, such as Miami, who’ve had success getting their Republican-controlled state legislatures on board with bus rapid transit.
“It feels like we can get this done,’” he said.
“Whether it’s on wheels or it’s on rails,” matters less to developers when it comes to transit than whether it’s a reliable and attractive form of transportation for residents, Morris added.
“How they get from one (place) to the next is, as long as it’s reliable, is irrelevant,” he said.
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