MetroRail brings development potential

Austin (KXAN) - Aside from getting people to and fro, what impact will the new rail line have on development between Leander and downtown Austin?

It could change the growth patterns and business development of the greater Austin area.

If you look at the location of the nine station stops along the route, most seem located in barren or underdeveloped areas.  That could change as the rail line attracts new passengers and creates a lifeblood for new investment and growth.

One developer rolling the dice on the new line is Art Lominack, who took a 72 acre chemical research site, and turned it into commercial and residential investments at Midtown Commons, near the Crestview stop.

"The Crestview neighborhoods are a very important part of how we want this to evolve," Lominack said.  "We don't want it to feel like a project but rather its just an extension of the Crestview neighborhood and now this midtown part of Austin."

"The goal is that there is developmet that occurs around these transit nodes, and they become their own walkable public realms, if you will, that can evolve and grow outwardly," Lominack added.

Of course that means small business owners and new residents must be willing to take the plunge. Lucio Martinez located his business, Somnio Solutions, which diagnoses sleep disorders, in the heart of Midtown Commons.

"One of the main reasons I wanted to come here was the simple fact that it was right on the rail line," Martinez said. 

"I'd be able to get some foot traffic and, you know, some exposure of some sort for potential students for the school I'm trying to start here in town and along with other services I provide," Martinez said. "So for me it's a smart idea."

These new oases of growth are just as the city, and Cap Metro hoped it would be. They are working with developers to clear the tracks for new investment.

Lucy Galbraith coordinates Transit Oriented Development for Capital Metro.

"We've worked really closely with the developers to try to make it a seamless experience, that when you get off the train and you walk into the development you don't notice where one stops and the other begins," Galbraith said of the Midtown Commons development.

"So I think if you want to appeal to the kind of people who like to live in these places, and they do tend to be younger and tech oriented, this would be your market," Galbraith added.

Eventually it's expected 3-thousand people will live in Midtown Commons, and that's just one new oasis springing up along the new rail line.