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Neck area light rail could spark economic development
By DENNIS QUICK
Senior Staff Writer
Light rail service helped revitalize parts of Charlotte, and it can do the same in Charleston.
That’s what developers claim in their efforts to redevelop 500 blighted acres of the northern Charleston peninsula. Their huge project, announced in 2003 and dubbed “Magnolia,” aims to transform the peninsula’s Neck into a vibrant, environmentally safe area of businesses, parks and residential neighborhoods.
Led by Robert Clement and Terry Shook, the Magnolia Development Group points to Charlotte’s $40 million, two-mile rail line that has spurred nearly $650 million of private investment from businesses and residents along the rail line corridor, according to Magnolia spokesman Jonathan Scott.
In 1998, Charlotte City Council allocated $19.7 million in city funds toward the restoration of old trolley cars. Meanwhile, the Charlotte Area Transit System spent $20.3 million renovating trolley tracks to make them ready for light rail. The electric-powered trolleys began transporting commuters, tourists and local residents last summer, but economic development began springing up along the rail corridor in 2000, well before the project was completed.
The Magnolia Development Group envisions a Lowcountry light rail service extending from Moncks Corner to Charleston International Airport to the Visitors Center in downtown Charleston, with side routes along the way. The developers point out that the railway tracks are already in place. However, no money has been earmarked for the project and a price tag has yet to be attached.
“The half-cent sales tax could help finance it,” says Clement. Over a 25-year period, the sales tax hike would raise $1.3 billion, part of which would be used to improve regional transportation infrastructure and services.
Which entity would control a Lowcountry light rail line also has not been decided. “We’re still in the idea stage,” says Clement.
Light rail could spark home ownership in the Neck, Clement notes. Without the liability of a vehicle, aspiring homeowners could get larger home loans from banks, he points out.
“We’re not talking million-dollar condos,” he says. “We’re talking a wide span of housing at different price points.”
San Francisco’s waterfront got rejuvenated when the city brought back its vintage streetcars and cable cars in 1995, says Rick Laubscher, president of San Francisco’s Market Street Railway, a nonprofit partner of the San Francisco Municipal Railway. During a March 4 light rail symposium the Magnolia Development Group held at the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, Laubscher pointed out that condominiums, hotels, restaurants and shops rose along San Francisco’s waterfront, which previously had been an area of abandoned warehouses.
State and federal funds, private donations to Market Street Railway, tax assessment fees and a sales tax increase financed San Francisco’s light rail system, which is operated by the city’s Municipal Railway, says Laubscher. In 2002, the system’s operating expenses exceeded $114.7 million, according to the American Public Transportation Association’s latest figures.
The Bay Area’s light rail system daily carries about 42,000 riders, including tourists, neighborhood residents and commuters, according to Market Street Railway’s Web site.
Light rail is gaining momentum throughout the nation. In Portland, Ore., light rail helped revitalize that city’s Pearl District, Laubscher says. He adds that Tacoma, Wash., is basing its light rail system after Portland’s. Philadelphia and San Pedro, Calif., are building light rail lines while Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, are considering light rail.
A light rail line would work nicely with the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority, says Howard Chapman, CARTA’s executive director. The Visitors Center on Meeting Street would be a “great transportation hub” where Neck commuters and other passengers could disembark from trolleys and board CARTA’s buses.
The Lowcountry has been considering a light rail system for years, but now is the time to act, Clement says.
“There is so much existing rail in our area that we can run a light rail line directly to Moncks Corner, directly to Noisette and directly to the airport,” Clement says. “Somebody’s got to seize the moment.”
Dennis Quick covers economic development for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@crbj.com.
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