STL MetroLink

St. Louis MetroLink TOD Market Study

By: Chris Harpstrite

The East West Gateway Council of Governments has recently released a study on Transit Oriented Development for the St. Louis MetroLink. The MetroLink has 37 stations, this study outlines how these locations can better improve on the opportunity to have a live/work environment and use the MetroLink as the “primary means of mobility.”
            Transit oriented development is currently limited in the region and this is partly because of the slow-growth nature of the St. Louis. The study broke the St. Louis region down into seven submarkets: Downtown St. Louis City, Central St. Louis City, North St. Louis County, Mid St. Louis County, South St. Louis County, West St. Clair County, and Central St. Clair County. By breaking the St. Louis Metropolitan area into these submarkets these areas were better analyzed. They were able to break down and analyze data from population and household information to real estate market data. They have also come up with future transit oriented development demand by submarkets and the next steps St. Louis and the MetroLink should take to improve TOD in the St. Louis region. The location of my thesis is in North St. Louis County.
            This 114 page document can be viewed in its entirety at: http://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/sldc/documents/upload/St.%20Louis%20MetroLink%20TOD%20Market%20Study%20-BAE-%20October%202012.pdf. This will be a great resource for my thesis project this upcoming semester.