Tishman Speyer proposes 14-acre TOD near Washington, DC

Dive Brief:

New York City developer Tishman Speyer has proposed a mixed-use, transit-oriented development (TOD) for a 14-acre site in Reston, VA, near Washington, DC, according to Reston Now.
Reston Crossing's six-building plan calls for 30,000 square feet of retail, up to 860 residential units — as many as 380 of those multifamily — and a central park. The project would be 38% to 58% office development, 36% to 59% residential and 3% to 6% retail, though plans could change with market demand.
The project will be close to the Reston Town Center rail station, which will serve the DC Metrorail's Silver Line and is expected to open in early 2020.

Dive Insight:

Transit-oriented developments, when done right, can be a boon to both developers and the transit system that serves the project. And, according to The Washington Post, Metro could use the increased ridership and the fees that go along with it.

In September, the Post reported that Metro officials were estimating that the system needs $15.5 billion during the next 10 years to stay operational. That amount, however, still falls short of what officials estimate will be necessary to complete capital projects like the Silver Line.

It could be that developers, like Tishman Speyer, who bank on the benefits of being located next to a major transit station, will eventually have to help finance maintenance and improvements. Last year, The Post reported that developers in the Washington, DC metro area built about $50 billion of projects around Metro stations in 2015, profiting off a system that many do not pay into.

Though some communities are still wary of the high-density development that accompanies TODs, other cities have embraced the concept. Albert Santana, director of high capacity transit for the City of Phoenix, told Construction Dive that using a station-by-station approach with TODs and considering the character of each neighborhood during development has netted the city at least $9 billion in economic growth.

The latest high-density project planned for Phoenix is The LINK PHX, a 30-story, 375,000-square-foot mixed-use tower in the city's downtown. The project will include 257 market-rate apartments, 17 penthouses and 7,000 square feet of street-level retail and is just the first of three planned residential towers.