Quick Update: TTA/Cherokee

The N&O reports this morning that TTA and Cherokee Investment Partners have cemented their public-private partnership to develop the land around the proposed, but now in-limbo, rail stations.

In Durham, this includes the triangle of land bordered by West Chapel Hill St., S. Duke St., and the railroad tracks, which I profiled a few months ago. The press release said that the partnership would wait 12 months before commencing development, presumably to prioritize areas if there is another approach to building the train, and then create an LLC for each station area - a typical development practice.



Developing around the stations is, in and of itself, another strategy for making rail workable. Variations on this strategy are longstanding - from railroad expansion into the west, which gave railroads swaths of land in return for railroad development, including enough to sell on either side to help subsidize the rail - to other countries, such as Japan, that use the land value appreciation brought by the rail line to finance the rail (by selling it to developers as value-added).

I'm happy if this simply means development of the neglected area of West Chapel Hill between the freeway and downtown - if it also means ridership and financing for the 'I'm not dead = I'm feeling better' rail line, it's a win-win in my book.