High Speed Rail – Orlando to Tampa
Source: High Speed Rail – St Pete Times
State Transportation officials are submitting their application for billions of dollars in stimulus money to build the Tampa to Orlando leg of the Federal high speed rail project. Florida has a history of starts and stops on the project.
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The State’s indecisiveness and lack of execution to date undoubtedly will be seen as a negative in their competitive bid for funds. On the positive side, Florida is a highly populated state that votes and and has been one of the hardest hit by the recession. Getting the nod to build the train will undoubtedly be a boon to local contractors, engineers, planners and architects. Certainly commercial real estate will see a bump in and around the rail stations. I have yet to see the plans, but typically, high speed rail maintains very few stops along their routes. How many stops will we see between Tampa and Orlando? 3? 4, maybe? The point I am trying to make is, the long term effect on commercial real estate values and activity is not totally clear. Truthfully, I have yet to see a study that would indicate that resident high speed rail ridership between the two cities would be of sufficient volume to indicate any noticeable shift in the real estate markets at all.
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To get access to the 1 million people that live in Pinellas County will take another bridge across Tampa Bay. This will take many years and hundreds of millions of dollars. Would I use a high speed train to get from Downtown St. Pete to Tampa, Disney attractions & Downtown Orlando? Yes. But it needs to be cost effective. Don’t think there are enough users to amortize the cost of all the infrastructure & eminent domain.
Interesting comment about whether the high speed rail stations will spur adjacent commercial development. Commercial/residetial along commuter and light rail has a fairly decent track record when part of a planned strategy. I used Google earth to check out the Marion Transit Center – it is a nice station in the middle of a wasteland. However, if it becomes a major hub linking local transit with the HSR then I could see a basis for some retail development, even hotels as tourists might travel via train instead of fly or drive. If the area gets a pulse then residential might follow.
I’m seriously interested in investment around tarnsit centers so any information on what’s going on around Marion or other hubs would be greatly appreciated. It seems like trends are favoring this layout more and more.
No doubt, Jason. The light rail has been aided retail development in and around the stations. The HSR stops will have a nice bump as well. Surely, Disney will have its own stop. Beyond Disney, though, I have yet to see the plans or even suggestions other than the rail will run down I4, or utilize the CSX infrastructure.
@Eric Odum
I checked out a few websites for the HSR and TBARTA that indicate station locations. I believe the HSR will run down I-4, and TBARTA’s long term plans will use the CSX. There might be a number of lines converging into downtown, that should tie things together not to mention help out downtown office space. Unfortunately I’s say all this is 5+ years out at a minimum for anything substantive to occur.