Tri-County Metropolitan Transit District (Tri-Met), Portland, Oregon – Project Break Even: After the opening of the initial Light Rail Transit (LRT) investment in Portland, Oregon in 1986, an opportunity arose to build a one million square foot shopping center development adjacent to Gresham City Hall and a Convention Center Hotel in the Lloyd District. The revenues generated from the lease of the property and increased ridership on the Banfield LRT would fully cover the cost to operate the system. A total of $14.2 million in funding was secured for the Tri-County Metropolitan Transit District (Tri-Met) to acquire the property. The project would have relied on the existing Section 3(a)(1)(D). The project combined with other Tri-Met Joint Development projects led to a change to the FTA Common Grant Rule, expanded eligibility of projects to focus on “highest and best transit use” and While the project did not move forward, it led to a major modification of FTA policy in the mid-1990s to modify the Common Grant Rule to legislative changes to allow revenues generated from joint development to be used for “any mass transit purpose,”
Knoxville Bus Terminal, City of Knoxville, Knoxville: The City of Knoxville (“City) and Knoxville Area Transit (“KAT”) were examining opportunities to advance a new bus terminal in downtown Knoxville that would also include retail, commercial and residential activities at the site. The property was acquired with funds from the Federal Transit Administration (“FTA”). Jeff Boothe advised City and KAT on compliance with the Joint Development Circular, the mix of uses to ensure eligibility and use of parking for transit and the other proposed uses.
Jamaica Station, Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, New York City, NY: The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation (“Corporation”) secured federal funding to redevelop the Sutphin Underpass at the Long Island Railroad Station and a future AirTrain Station. Jeff Boothe provided strategic advice to the Corporation as it negotiated with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (“MTA”) and the FTA, to reach agreement to allow the build-out of the Sutphin Underpass to expand the opportunity for future development, widen the sidewalks and change the road network to expand the footprint of the station to be a link to the planned redevelopment in the Greater Jamaica area.
7th Avenue Transit Village Project, Atlanta Pacific, Miami, FL (2011): Atlantic Pacific secured approval from Miami-Dade Transit to develop parcels in Liberty City adjacent to a multimodal bus transit hub. Jeff provided legal and strategic advice to Atlanta Pacific on FTA compliance issues under the joint development authority and to develop an approach to comply with Buy America as the site was developed in two stages.
Raleigh Union Station-Bus Terminal: Hoffman & Associates was selected by GoTriangle (Raleigh-Durham) to develop a build a bus terminal and to build-out a residential and commercial development site adjacent to the Raleigh Union Station in downtown Raleigh. The site was acquired by GoTriangle with FTA funds as part of a regional rail project that did not advance and the Bus Station was funded by a grant provided under the Better Utilizing Infrastructure to Leverage Development (“BUILD”) in 2018. Initial role was to develop a road map of the project elements eligible for funding under the BUILD grant under the FTA Joint Development Authority. Subsequent work will entail reviewing the development agreement between Hoffman and GoTriangle and the scope of activities to be funded by the BUILD grant.