News in Detail

Transit-Oriented Housing On Track For Continued Growth

Like a crowded bus or train chugging away from a station stop, the transit-oriented development (TOD) phenomenon has shown a striking ability to gather momentum.

Once a nice-to-have niche urban design concept, TOD has become an essential part of many urban neighborhoods. It has helped address the shortage of housing by enabling the development of higher-density residential communities near transit stations. It has helped revitalize countless once-deteriorating or static urban enclaves near transit hubs by activating sidewalks near the developments. And it has spurred walking and transit use, enabling residents of TODs to reduce or eliminate automobile dependency.

National nonprofit Reconnecting America, which advocates for transit, reports latent demand for TOD could help usher in more than 860,000 homes situated near top-tier U.S. transit stations by 2030. A 2025 Regional Plan Association report called “Homes on Track” pointed to a direct relationship between access to high-frequency transit services and greater demand for neighborhood housing. And growing numbers of new residential communities are being marketed to prospective residents who plan to leave vehicular ownership behind for the prospect of transit-connected, walkable neighborhoods.

Research has shown TODs occupy footprints covering less than 1% of city land, but lure more than one in five new regional jobs.

A 25-year Texas study found TOD projects produced more than $18 billion in direct economic impact, spawned almost 5,300 jobs and generated more than $428 million in labor income in just the study’s last two years. Living in TOD households is linked with $429 to $1,232 lower transportation costs yearly than in non-TOD homes, studies show.

Timely TOD

One of the developers clearly recognizing the promise of transit-oriented development is Kushner, developer of a Jersey City, N.J. TOD called The Journal. The $1 billion, two-tower rental development is uniquely positioned to take advantage of transit adjacency. That’s because it rises 64 stories right next door to the Journal Square Transportation Center, offering PATH access to Lower and Midtown Manhattan, as well as Newark, Hoboken, and crucial job hubs throughout the heavily trafficked region. The project’s arrival has been fortuitously timed to the return to office for many Manhattan workers.

“Transit-oriented development is fueling sustainable growth, and Jersey City is at the forefront,” says Nicole Kushner-Meyer, Kushner president.

“The Journal demonstrates what smart design, scale and top-tier connectivity can achieve . . . With two 64-story towers directly above the PATH and exceptional leasing momentum, the takeaway is clear: People want high design and access, and the developments that provide both are defining the future of urban living.”

Redefining suburbia

Transit-oriented living is becoming a force not just in cities, but also in suburban areas, such as the Hudson River community of Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. in Westchester County. The opportunity to ride into Manhattan in less than 40 minutes is part of the appeal of One Kingsland, a for-sale, design-forward townhome community in the municipality’s Edge-on-Hudson enclave. Residents benefit from immediate access to a pair of Metro-North stations featuring trains to New York City. A number of One Kingsland buyers have sought the development for just that reason, as well as the appeal of extra space.

Of course, TODs are proving increasingly popular nationally, from Seattle to Tampa and countless stops in between, and not just in market-rate development opportunities. In Chicago, for instance, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is seeking partners in its 95th Street Corridor Plan, an Equitable TOD (ETOD) on the city’s South Side.

A two-mile section of east-west 95th Street, in an area of the city that has traditionally suffered from disinvestment, pulls together a quintet of major transit investment projects. CTA has identified four sites with significant promise to become future ETODs, two directly adjacent to the CTA’s 95th Street Red Line southern terminus.

As someone once said, “The way to fight traffic isn’t to keep widening highways and building exurban sprawl. It’s densification around existing transit stops, so driving is no longer a necessity.”