Access to light rail.

• Author: TITUS, STEPHEN
• Position: Brief Article

WHO OWNS THE SOUTHWEST/CENTRAL RAIL CORRIDOR?

Light rail in metro Denver is spreading like spokes from the hub of the city, creating new development opportunities along the way. Today's case in point? The combined 14-mile Regional Transportation District Central and Southwest light-rail lines from 30th and Downing streets north of Downtown Denver to south suburban Littleton.

Once considered among transportation ideologues as a pariah equal to Denver International Airport -- before DIA's opening and subsequent success -- the RTD's commuter rail line also has drawn more users than anticipated. It now is a darling of developers who see stops along the route as potential financial bonanzas. And for good reason.

Rail riders crow about the convenience and cost efficiency of traveling between Downtown and points south, and property values around existing and proposed stops are rising. "This thing is the greatest," said one briefcase-toting commuter heading out of the city with a companion. "I almost never have to drive to work anymore. It's so much cheaper to take the train."

RTD representatives say those same riders, given the opportunity, will spend money at retail stores located around light-rail stops on both the Southwest and the still-to-be-constructed Southeast light rail along Interstate 25. They hope city planners and developers listen up, and create projects that cater to commuters.

In a phrase, that's called transit-oriented development, and a prime example along the Southwest light-rail line is Englewood and its Cinderella City Mall. The suburb razed nearly all of the 1.3 million square feet of the defunct suburban shopping center, once the largest shopping mall west of the Mississippi River, and is now redeveloping the 55-acre site to accommodate the pedestrian lifestyle that RTD promotes.

The former Foley's store in the mall, for example, has been converted to Englewood city offices, a library and a sculpture museum. The remodeled 164,000-square-foot building sits directly east of the Englewood light-rail stop and a bus-transfer station. Under construction north of the building are 400 residential units, and plans call for development of nearly 300,000 square feet of adjacent commercial space to serve both commuters and nearby residents.

"It (Englewood) basically took (over) something worthless, or becoming worthless; now the area around there is very valuable," said Scott Reed, a spokesman for RTD. That's an argument his agency...