Over the past decade, it has become increasingly clear that the presence of transit can increase property values and result in valuable development opportunities. In this era of constrained transit funding and widespread demand for new and expanded transit systems, policy makers, transit planners and elected officials are increasingly interested in harnessing a portion of the value that transit confers to surrounding properties to fund transit infrastructure or related improvements in station areas. This idea, known as “value capture,” is much discussed in planning, transit, and local government circles. However, confusion abounds. Where does the value come from? What is the best way to measure it? And, most importantly, what is the best way to capture this value?

Those are the questions addressed in "Capturing the Value of Transit," a new report by Reconnecting America's Center for Transit-Oriented Development.

The Center for TOD is the only national nonprofit effort dedicated to providing best practices, research and tools to support market-based transit-oriented development. We partner with both the public and private market sectors to strategize about ways to encourage the development of high-performing TOD projects around transit stations and to build transit systems that maximize the development potential.

The Center for TOD is a partnership of the national nonprofit Reconnecting America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and Strategic Economics, an urban economics firm in Berkeley, CA.

Somerville: Reconnecting America worked with the Somerville Community Corporation to identify needs and opportunities for equitable transit-oriented development in the City of Somerville, with a focus on the planned extension of the Green Line. The report highlights demographic and real estate trends, and outlines a series of strategies for achieving mixed-income TOD.

Mixed-income TOD has the potential to meaningfully address the growing affordability crisis in the Denver region. This report, which was commissioned by the Enterprise Community Partners of Denver, concludes that there is a growing demand for housing near transit, and a closing window of opportunity to develop it in a sustainable way with mixed-income housing.

Reconnecting America convened transportation and land use planners in Dallas in early 2006 to launch an effort to create performance standards and techniques resulting in better integration of transit and urban design. We continue to look for partners to help research best practices and develop case studies.

Congress made ”economic development“ a funding criteria for the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts/Small Starts funding programs, along with land use and cost effectiveness. But there has been a lack of consensus on how to measure and predict ”economic development“ and on how to implement it as a funding criteria. Reconnecting America commissioned several ”white papers“ on the topic for a forum in Washington D.C. on Dec. 5, 2006.