Changes might be in store for the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center.
C-Tran is exploring what the busy transit center might look like with some kind of commercial or residential development incorporated into the site.
The work is in its earliest phases. The agency just closed a request for statements of qualifications for consultants that could do a feasibility study. So any kind of plans are still a long way off, but C-Tran wants to know what is possible for the property.
Whatever the options, Scott Patterson, C-Tran’s director of planning, development and public affairs, said the development would be transit-oriented.
“Obviously, we have a specific transit need and transit purpose that will be the anchor for the property,” he said. “But what C-Tran wants to do is explore the possibilities of a private developer or another type of developer that would come in and propose a major redevelopment that could include all or a portion of C-Tran’s current facility.”
He added the development would need to support transit, fit within the neighborhood and meet the region’s needs.
The transit center is at Southeast 164th Avenue, just off state Highway 14 and is a popular site for commuters. Due to high demand, C-Tran added another 200 parking spaces to the site’s south side, bringing the total up to 759 late last summer, but the northeast corner of the property is undeveloped.
Patterson said C-Tran has received numerous calls from businesses interested in building on the space, but the building possibilities for it are limited, so the agency wants to know what’s possible if more of the property were open to development.
Transit-oriented development, a type of development that typically brings a blend of housing, office space, retail and sometimes other amenities into a neighborhood close to public transportation, is increasingly common around the U.S. Like the The Vine, C-Tran’s bus rapid-transit system, a transit-oriented development at Fisher’s Landing would be a first for the agency.
Patterson said whatever development goes in would include more parking spaces, the number of which depends on whether the agency follows through on opening another transit center on the city’s east side. But, again, these things are yet to be determined. There’s also the possibility that Fisher’s Landing could be the anchor point for a future east side bus rapid-transit system.
“The intent here is to see what is feasible and what isn’t,” Patterson said, adding that he’s hopeful the feasibility would be done next summer.
