Moving Ahead: Sound Transit Enters the World of Transit Oriented Development

Tomorrow morning (Friday) at 11:00am Sound Transit will host a public ribbon cutting celebrating the completion of their first transit oriented development project at the Federal Way Transit Center.

This is Sound Transit first major foray into transit oriented development. This land was surplus land after the construction of the expanded Federal Way Transit Center. They developed the land in a public-private partnership with the Korean Women’s Association. The mixed-use facility, located at 31621 23rd Ave S., will provide rental housing for 61 low-income residents, a residential unit for an onsite manager, and 3,125 square feet of office space for the organization.

Here is more from the Sound Transit Release:

Three years ago, Sound Transit sold a portion of the land it acquired for construction of its Federal Way Transit Center to KWA through a competitive application process. It also granted KWA $25,000 in pre-development monies to assist in securing funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the King County Housing Program, the City of Federal Way Community Development Block Grant Program, and other agencies to design and construct the $18 million facility.

“The Korean Women’s Association’s Senior City represents the ideal in TOD partnerships,” said Sound Transit board member and King County Councilman Pete von Reichbauer. “Throughout the project’s development, Sound Transit staff advised KWA contractors on the design of an attractive, accessible, eco-friendly facility that will serve as an outstanding model for future TOD projects. We value our collaboration with the KWA and look forward to serving its residents, clients and staff for years to come.”

Sound Transit’s policy to link land use with transit planning, design and implementation dates back to 1996, when the agency adopted the Sound Move Regional Transit System Plan. Sound Transit works closely with jurisdictions throughout the region to promote land uses around transit facilities that encourage people to ride transit and rely less on automobiles. The agency’s commitment to TOD was reiterated when voters approved Sound Transit 2 in 2008.

Sound Transit’s collaboration with the Korean Women’s Association is the first in a series of planned TOD projects. The duo-tone, concrete and corrugated metal structure was designed to complement the Federal Way Transit Center, and is in accordance with Enterprise Communities Green Communities criteria and the State of Washington Evergreen Standard.

This is the first of many of TOD partnership projects that Sound Transit will be involved in. I'm optimistic its a good sign of what's to come.