DALLAS -- Commercial and residential development near Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail stations is driving the north Texas economy with more than $7 billion of impact from new and planned construction.
Activity from transit-oriented development in 2014 and 2015 within DART's 700-square mile service area created more than 43,000 jobs, resulting in nearly $3 billion in wages, salaries, and benefits, according to a study by economists at the University of North Texas.
The study looked at 11 projects in various stages of development with a total economic impact of $5.1 billion for the region. The list includes the redevelopment of an abandoned high school in downtown, an expanded Southwest Airlines training facility, and two new entertainment districts.
The economic benefits from the 93-mile light rail system, the nation's longest, have already exceeded its $5.5 billion cost, said DART executive director Gary Thomas.
"Developers see the benefit," Thomas said. "That's why they're putting their money into new live-work-play communities close to our stations. They are changing the face of our region."
Completed or under-construction transit-oriented developments near DART stations generated $69 million in state and local sales and property taxes over the past two years, said Michael Carroll of UNT's economics research group.
Potential spending for planned or proposed developments near DART rail stations could produce another $160 million of state and local tax revenue in the next few years, he said.
"DART, and the projects around it, will sustain our continued growth," Carroll said. "This very rapid increase in investment and development activity around DART stations reflects the improvement in our regional economy."
A 2014 study from UNT identified $5.3 billion of transit-oriented developments within a quarter-mile of DART rail stations between 1996, when the system's first rail segment opened, and 2013, Carroll said.
"The region is one of the fastest growing nationwide in terms of population and continues to be the destination for corporate relocations," he said. "Connectivity and multimodal access are increasingly important in a Texas that is rapidly urbanizing, and this is especially true in the Dallas-Ft. Worth region."
The increased property values and the tax revenues that will be generated for years from those properties is just one of the ways that Dallas and the other member cities get a return on their investment in DART, said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings.
"DART has created new connections to attract developers to fertile areas for investment," he said. "We see that transformation in all parts of our city and are excited to see what's next."
DART is in the process of soliciting proposals from developers for projects around its Mockingbird Station, which was the region's first transit-oriented development when it opened in 2001 near Southern Methodist University.
Thomas said the 11-acre parking lot at the station whose nearby neighbors include a hotel, apartments, restaurants, and a popular movie theater is the single largest vacant tract close to downtown.
New developments around the rail station north of downtown Dallas could total $200 million, he said.
"There aren't many 11-acre tracts [in the area] to take advantage of," he said. "Mockingbird Station is the grandfather of [transit-oriented development] in our region."
The DART board approved a 20-year financial plan on Tuesday that includes $16.3 billion of sales tax revenue from its dedicated 1% tax within member cities, $2.4 billion of new debt through fiscal 2036, $2.5 billion in fares, $1.5 billion of federal formula transit funding, and $940 million of federal discretionary grants.
DART has $3.3 billion of outstanding sales tax debt and low-interest federal loans with Aa2 ratings from Moody's Investors Service and AA-plus from Standard & Poor's Global Ratings.