By Mary Beth Almond
C & G Staff Writer

TROY — Real estate professionals from across Michigan will gather in Troy to discuss connecting suburban and urban town centers via transit on Nov. 7 and 8.

Commissioned by the city of Troy and the Troy Chamber of Commerce, the strategy presented at the 21st annual University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Real Estate Forum will focus on a potential regional transit center on the Birmingham-Troy boundary near the intersection of Coolidge Highway and Maple Road.

Among those in attendance at the UM/ULI Forum will be representatives from Birmingham.

At a recent Birmingham City Commission meeting, the commission agreed to contribute $10,000 to the Troy Chamber of Commerce to sponsor the forum, which includes a yearlong study that will be used to create a Walkable Urbanism Strategic Implementation Plan focusing on a proposed transit center.

The city of Troy committed $25,000 toward the study and real estate forum  — which is expected to cost about $250,000 in total.

“One of the (forum’s) primary functions is to highlight and promote economic development, so in that sense, the city contributing some money to this conference could be an asset. It could benefit the city because there will be a lot of development professionals, developers and real estate folks that will be attending,” said Birmingham Planning Director Jana Ecker.

Ecker, who was appointed to the five-member board of directors established to manage the transit center project, said the city would also be given ongoing opportunities for participation in the creation of the Walkable Urbanism Strategic and Implementation Plan — including full participation in the charrette to be conducted in early 2008.

The yearlong study, which began this spring, has involved a six-month planning and analysis process conducted by a team from the University of Michigan. The team “examined market trends and land use patterns in the area and evaluated transportation options, market potential and the potential fiscal impact to determine the social, economic and political implications of building transit-oriented development in the community.” In January 2008, the team will reconvene for a four-day design charrette — with students, consultants, architects and urban planners — to work to implement the approved strategy.

Plans for the multi-modal transportation hub in Troy began in 2000 after development firm Grand-Sakwa gave the city of Troy three acres of land — behind Midtown Square at Coolidge Highway and Maple Road — to build a transit center as part of their consent agreement to build Midtown Square condominiums. The city has until 2010 to begin the project; otherwise the land reverts back to the developer.

The proposed $3.5 million Troy-Birmingham Regional Transit Center would accommodate train, bus, taxi and rental car services.

The UM/ULI Real Estate Forum, which is themed Connecting the Dots: Linking Suburban & Urban Town Centers Via Transit, will feature roundtable discussions, remarks by national and local real estate experts, a presentation on the ULI’s 2008 emerging trends, and a narrated bus tour of area development. It will be held in the auditorium at the Management Education Center, 811 W. Square Lake Road in Troy, on Nov. 7 and 8.

For more information or to register, visit www.umuliforum.com. 

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Beth Almond at malmond@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1060.