SunRail Start-Up: Early Returns

Afternoon Train Arrives at the Winter Park Station,

 May 14, 2014

Hundreds await the northbound train in downtown Winter Park

Central Florida's new $1.2 billion commuter train service, SunRail, officially began operating May 1st.  For the first two weeks the service was free.  Ridership was exceeded expectation by more than double averaging over 10,000 daily passengers and causing some afternoon trains to experience delays of 40 to 60 minutes.  

Serious commuters were not at all pleased as the trains quickly filled with joy riders intent on simply enjoying a free train ride to those looking to make a leisurely day out of the opportunity including many retirees and mothers with lots of kids.  

Perhaps the City benefiting the most from this initial start-up period  was the City of Winter Park, where downtown restaurant saw a remarkably significant increase in  business.  Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine put the increase at over 20% for their lunch crowd.  

Take Aways

It's too early to tell whether or not the ridership will continue to exceed expectations for the system predicted at 4,300 riders per day, but clearly SunRail accomplished its initial goal of getting people to try the train with its two weeks of free train service.  The excessive delays caused by the  high levels of ridership may cause some commuters to adopt a wait and see approach.  One commuter told me she had to wait over an hour for the train to return home from her long work day at Florida Hospital and while she wasn't willing to do that again, she noted that she was willing to try it again after the free ride period ended.  

Clearly one gets the sense that this new rail start is quickly being accepted as a viable and affordable alternative to being held hostage along Interstate 4 and even with delays, it certainly is more convenient and more enjoyable a commute than driving in rush hour traffic.  Scheduling bugs will be worked out and as I-4 undergoes a 10-year road expansion plan, prognosis for Central Florida's commuter train looks promising.       

TOD Investments Spur Economic Revitalization in Orlando Suburbs

SunRail is Central Florida's new commuter rail system scheduled to open in early 2014.  It is a 61- mile system connecting Orlando to its outlying suburbs north to south from Deland to Poinciana.  The first phase runs 32 miles and includes 12 stations, paralleling the congested I-4 corridor in Orange, Seminole and Volusia Counties. Total cost of the system is $1.1 billion, $615 million for construction and $491 million in right-of-way acquisition.  Funding is split with 50% coming from the Federal government, 25% from the State Government and 25% from local partners, including Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola Counties and the City of Orlando.

With construction of the stations well underway, a major concern has been how to jump start private sector investment in and around the planned stops.  While much planning has gone into station area design, attracting investment partners has not always been easy or automatic.  Fortunately for the region, a local development services and architectural firm, Associated Consulting International, ACi, has stepped up and delivered for a number of the suburban communities along the line.   To date, two suburban communities have seen major private investment commitments as a result:

Longwood, Florida 

Weston Park GP, LLC will develop Weston Park, a $24 million, 201-unit apartment project as a first phase situated at the station platform.  Office and retail are being planned for phase 2.   The company also plans to build a 120-unit apartment complex for seniors two blocks north of the station. The $18 million project will be financed by the Florida Housing Finance Corp..

ACi was instrumental in securing the deal involving an intricate pre-development strategy including the City, the County and FDOT.  Larry Adams, president of ACi explains "These deals just don't happen,  Someone's got to work through the complexities of the deal and secure the commitments.  We make it easy for private partners to come to the table."   For more see the Longwood Station Plan.

Weston Park, Longwood, Florida

Lake Mary, Florida

In Lake Mary, Epoch Properties Inc. will build 200 units of luxury apartments and parking structure on 3.2 acres near the SunRail station.  The project named "Station House" will contain one, two and three bedroom units ranging in size between 665 sq. ft. up to 1,237 sq. ft.  In this case, ACi served as the City's development adviser.  Through its soft solicitation process, ACi was able to deliver to the City the highest quality developer willing to pay a premium to the City for the property.  Through a break-through data discovery, documenting the large workforce commuting into the City daily, the deal was sealed.

Beating the Trends

The fact that ACi was able to deliver new development at these locations even before actual start-up of the SunRail system is made even more remarkable given recent data published by Dena Belzer, President of Strategic Economics, in her presentation: TOD and the Relationship Between Transit and Economic Development.  This research found that suburban locations, depending on their type, garnered between 0% and 9% of all new TOD development between 2005 and 2009; while 68% of new TOD development went to the transit systems' urban cores.

When asked about this incredible track record, Adam explained that they have developed a unique process called an Investment-Based Planning Strategy involving both a high level assessment using big data trends as well as a sophisticated targeted-asset, Public-Private Partnership (P3) delivery method.  "Key to successful development commitment is our unique ability to involve financial underwriters in the review of the value proposition" said Adams. 

Stay tuned to this blog as we continue to explore this innovative model for delivering development to communities in need of expanding their tax base and reinvigorating their communities.