Project: MARTA Lindberg Station

1.0 Synopsis

The Lindbergh Station City Center project was planned as a mixed-use transit-oriented development to promoted additional transit use and decrease automobile dependence. The Lindbergh/Morosgo station is the last transfer point for the Red and Gold lines on the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority's (MARTA) heavy rail system, and is adjacent to the MARTA headquarters. In 2008, an average of 9,689 passenger boarded trains at the station each day. The 47 acre Lindbergh Station City Center site has been developed with 1 million square feet of office space, 300,000 square feet of retail space, and 714 residential units. The major tenant is Bell South, which consolidated operations from several locations in the Atlanta region at the site in 1998, and now leases 900,000 square feet of office space there. An additional 50,000 square feet of speculative office space was built at the site. In total an estimated 3,773 jobs (3,608 office jobs and 165 retail jobs) are located at Lindberg Station City Center. Of these, 373 are new jobs to the region.

MARTA invested $24 million to upgrade the Lindbergh/Morosgo MARTA station to accommodate the expected increase in ridership. Renovation projects included platform additions, stairs, escalators, elevators, concourse areas, fare gates, an upgraded bus transfer system, and a ground-level street plaza. MARTA also invested $81 million in infrastructure improvements to both the area road network and the development site. To upgrade road access to the station and development site, MARTA spent $2 million on road and signal improvements. Original plans included the option to widen Piedmont Road, the main road through the area, from six to nine lanes. This was opposed by surrounding neighborhoods and a compromise was reached that resulted in the addition of two turning lanes at the intersection of Lindbergh Drive and Piedmont Road. To serve the private development, MARTA paid $40 million to build 10,461 on-site parking spaces. The remaining $39 million of MARTA's infrastructure investment paid for streetscaping, residential access roads, utilities, and other overhead costs. Including both the station and development site improvements, MARTA invested $105 million. Of this total, $26 million (for the station and roadway improvements) represent transportation system costs, while the remaining $79 million were spent to improve the development site. The private developer, Carter and Associates, pays MARTA between $1 and $6 million per year for a ground lease, and shares with MARTA proceeds from condominium sales to help MARTA recoup these site improvement costs.

2.0 Background

2.1 Location & Transportation Connections

Lindbergh/Morosgo Station is located 7 miles north of downtown Atlanta, Georgia in the southern part of the Buckhead area of Atlanta. It is the last transfer point on the Red and Gold lines on the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority's (MARTA) heavy rail system. In 2008, an average of 9,809 passengers boarded at the station each day. There are 1,578 park-and-ride spaces and 10,461 office/retail parking spaces at the station. It is served by a feeder bus system with ten bus routes. MARTA's headquarters are adjacent to the Lindbergh station. The station is approximately 3/4 miles west of I-85 via State Route 236.

2.2 Community Character & Project Context

The Lindbergh/Morosgo station is located immediately south and east of the wealthy Atlanta neighborhoods of Buckhead, Garden Hills, and Peachtree Hills. On the eastern side of the station are two shopping malls, Buckhead Crossing and Lindbergh Plaza, which are surrounded by moderate to low-income neighborhoods where many residents are transit-dependent. Several restaurants are located along Piedmont Road, which runs north-south between the station (west) and the retail centers (east).

The MARTA Lindbergh station is located in the city of Atlanta, which had a population of 445,709 in 2008 (+ 7% from 2000.) The population of Fulton County increased by 24% to 1.01 million between 2000 and 2008, while the population of Georgia grew by 17.8% to 9.6 million over the same time period. Employment in zip code 30324, where the station is located, declined by 25.1% to 11,634 jobs from 2000 to 2007. Between 2000 and 2008, employment in Fulton County grew by 5.8% to 964,700 jobs, while employment in the state increased by 13.9% to 5.5 million jobs.

3.0 Project Description & Motives

In 1996, the EPA declared the Atlanta metropolitan region to be in a "conformity lapse" with the Clean Air Act (CAA) amendment of 1990 and gave the Atlanta Regional Commission until 1998 to develop a Long Range Transportation Plan to conform to CAA standards. Without such a plan, Federal transportation funds would be withheld from the region. The region's air quality problems arose from decades of unplanned growth and road building that continued to support automobile dependence.

In an effort to reduce the acceleration of pollution from auto emissions, regional transportation planners looked to MARTA, the regional transit agency, to help alleviate traffic congestion and reduce automobile trips. However, despite the desire to expand MARTA's role in addressing the problem, the agency faced severe fiscal constraints because it relied solely on a one cent sales tax from Fulton and DeKalb counties for funding. MARTA turned to transit-oriented development (TOD) as a way to help finance transit investments and service, and to encourage drivers to become transit passengers by providing a mix of uses within walking distance of transit stations.

Prior to 1997, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) held that land acquired for transit projects with federal funds, land acquired with federal funds could only be used for purposes directly related to transit. This directly affected land purchased by a transit agency for construction staging but not needed for operations and maintenance purposes. Such excess land had to be sold, and the federal government reimbursed for the value of the land. MARTA had several such land holdings and wanted to use the land for transit-oriented development. The agency lobbied the FTA for a change in its land policy to broaden the definition of "transit-related purposes" to include mixed-use development, as well as the sale of land to secure funds for operations and capital improvements. In 1997 the FTA agreed to redefine transit-related uses to include these uses.

MARTA held 47 acres of land at the Lindbergh/Morosgo station, and proposed to develop a major mixed use development at the site that would be a pilot project under the new FTA policy. The agency set out to lease excess land at the station to a developer, using the revenue from the land lease to offset operating costs. Under the MARTA development plan, the agency would finance infrastructure such as streetscape improvements, sewer, and parking facilities and then enter in to a 99 year lease with the developer to construct the buildings in accordance with MARTA's master plan.

The agency developed a request for proposals for development of the station site and began negotiations with potential developers. During the initial stages of negotiations, Bell South, a prominent employer in the Atlanta region, announced that it planned to consolidate offices from over 75 locations within the Atlanta region at three locations, one of which was the Lindbergh/Morosgo MARTA station. Bell South viewed locating at a transit station as an incentive for attracting employees.

MARTA ultimately selected Carter Associates to develop Lindbergh Station City Center, a mixed use project that included two office towers, 300,000 square feet of retail, 352 condominiums and 362 apartments. Carter also proposed the development of 13,000 parking spaces to accommodate tenants, residents and visitors. This drew strong resistance from nearby neighborhood groups concerned about traffic impacts on already congested neighborhood streets. Through negotiations with the neighborhood groups, Carter agreed to reduce the number of spaces to 10,461.

MARTA invested $24 million to upgrade the Lindbergh/Morosgo MARTA station to accommodate an expected increase in ridership. Renovation projects included platform additions, stairs, escalators, elevators, concourse areas, fare gates, an upgraded bus transfer system, and a ground-level street plaza. MARTA also invested $81 million in infrastructure improvements to both the area road network and the development site. To upgrade road access to the station and development site, MARTA spent $2 million on road and signal improvements. Original plans included the option to widen Piedmont Road, the main road through the area, from six to nine lanes. This was opposed by surrounding neighborhoods and a compromise was reached that resulted in the addition of two turning lanes at the intersection of Lindbergh Drive and Piedmont Road. To serve the private development, MARTA paid $40 million to build the 10,461 parking spaces to serve the private development. The remaining $39 million of MARTA's infrastructure investment paid for streetscaping, residential access roads, utilities, and other overhead costs. Including both the station and development site improvements, MARTA invested $105 million. Of this total, $26 million (for the station and roadway improvements) represent transportation system costs, while the remaining $79 million were spent to improve the development site. The private developer, Carter and Associates, pays MARTA between $1 and $6 million per year for a ground lease, and shares with MARTA proceeds from condominium sales to help MARTA recoup these site improvement costs.

4.0 Project Impacts

4.1 Transportation Impacts

4.2 Demographic, Economic & Land Use Impacts

The first phase of the Lindbergh Station City Center has been completed and includes 1 million development included two office towers for a total of 950,000 square feet of office space, 300,000 square feet of retail space along Main Street, and 714 dwelling units. The retail along Main Street was promoted as being in accordance with principles of new urbanism. The second phase of development is currently on hold due to the effects of the recent economic recession.

A total of $329 million has been invested in the mixed use development. At its peak, Bell South employed an estimated 3,400 employees at its Lindberg office. An estimated 208 people are employed at 50,000 square feet of speculative office space at the site. Approximately 165 jobs have been created in the 74,000 square feet of leased retail space at Lindbergh Station City Center. In total, the site employs an estimated 3,773 people, of which 373 are new jobs to the region. The Bell South jobs have been relocated from other sites in the Atlanta region, and represent redistributive job impacts rather than generative job impacts.

5.0 Non-Transportation Factors

Lindbergh Station is not well-connected to surrounding neighborhoods. There is a lack of sidewalks that bridge the railroad tracks to the neighborhoods to the north and west of the station, and the station design and abundant parking favor access by car. These design characteristics have created access barriers that have limited ridership.

The FTA's 1997 Policy on Transit Joint Development regarding the use of excess land to subsidize operating costs was revoked when it was formally incorporated into the U.S. Code through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). The Act states that revenues from properties purchased with federal funds can no longer be used to subsidize transit operating costs.

6.0 Resources

6.1 Citations

1. Dumbaugh, Eric, “Overcoming Financial and Institutional Barriers to TOD: Lindbergh Station Case Study,” in Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2004.
2. Feigon, Sharon, David Hoyt, and Gloria Olhand, “The Atlanta Case Study: Lindbergh City Center.”  In The New Transit Town - Best Practices in Transit-Oriented Development, edited by Hank Dittmar and Gloria Ohland, 2004.
3. http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2001/01/29/editorial3.html
4. http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2001/05/28/story5.html
5. http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2001/01/22/story3.html
6. http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2000/12/04/editorial3.html
7. http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/06/30/daily43.html
8. http://www.sprawlwatch.org/bellsouth.html
9. http://www.masstransitmag.com/print/Mass-Transit/TODs-Evil-Twin--Transit-Adjacent-Development/1$5847
10. http://www.nctr.usf.edu/jpt/pdf/JPT%207-3%20Dumbaugh.pdf

6.2 Interviews

Organization

Metropolitan Atlanta Transit Authority

Lindbergh 8 neighborhood coalition

Atlanta Regional Commission

Footnotes

Case study developed by Economic Development Research Group