Source: High Speed Rail – St Pete Times
State Transportation officials are submitting their application for billions of dollars in stimulus money to build the Tampa to Orlando leg of the Federal high speed rail project. Florida has a history of starts and stops on the project.
The State’s indecisiveness and lack of execution to date undoubtedly will be seen as a negative in their competitive bid for funds. On the positive side, Florida is a highly populated state that votes and has been one of the hardest hit by the recession. Getting the nod to build the train will undoubtedly be a boon to local contractors, engineers, planners and architects. Certainly commercial real estate will see a bump in and around the rail stations, as we have been contacted by foreign investors seeking land for sale around the proposed stations. I have yet to see the plans, but typically, high speed rail maintains very few stops along their routes. How many stops will we see between Tampa and Orlando? 3? 4, maybe? The point I am trying to make is, the long term effect on commercial real estate values and activity is not totally clear. Truthfully, I have yet to see a study that would indicate that resident high speed rail ridership between the two cities would be of sufficient volume to indicate any noticeable shift in the real estate markets at all.