Report: 'Transit Village' Stamp Helps Boost Property Values

A report released Friday shows that property values in towns designated as Transit Villages have risen the most in communities with an infrastructure behind the designation.

The report, commissioned by the New Jersey Association of Realtors Government Research Foundation and conducted by the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers' Bloustein School, showed an increase in property values for the towns with the designation, but did not directly connect the rise to the status. The study showed that the communities with strong planning and government programs in place have helped the residential property values rise the most in Transit Village communities. 

“The Transit Village designation is helpful but it is not needed,” said Robert Noland, the director of the Voorhees Center, in a Friday conference call with reporters. “It is the better planning and the stronger leadership.”

The Transit Village designations were implemented by the state in 1999 to promote mixed-use residential and commercial development around train stations and in downtowns. Twenty communities have received the designation from the state Department of Transportation, along with funds to assist with the planning of mixed-use development near the train stations. 

Noland said his research did not see the direct correlation between the designation and the property value increase. He said factors such as special improvement districts, commitment from the business community, government support and work from municipal land use officials helped the property values rise. 

Noland pointed to Burlington City in South Jersey, one of the six Transit Village communities studied in-depth for the report, which he said has seen less of a rise in property values than other communities with the status. He said the community has seen changeover in local government and new plans developed. Burlington City received the Transit Village designation from the state in 2007.

The report notes that the 2007 designation may make it too early to assess the impact of the designation for Burlington City and noted that the community’s residential property values are lower than the rest of South Jersey. The report did indicate the municipal leaders have approved a series of town house and residential developments for around the train station in Burlington City as a part of the $100,000 state grant that came with the designation. 

The study was conducted by analyzing the residential property values for the 20 communities with the designation, along with site visits to six communities – Belmar, Bound Brook, Burlington City, the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City, Metuchen and Pleasantville. NJAR officials said the six communities were done to pick a cross section of towns with two each in the northern, central and southern parts of the state. Property value data was obtained by state taxation records. Noland said he also looked at such data as crime rates and school test scores.

“We tried to look at commercial property value, we were limited in terms of the data available,” Noland said. 

Noland and NJAR have not discussed the report with the state DOT. A message left with the state DOT for comment on the report was not returned.

In July 2009, the , while in the area receiving a briefing on Cranford’s status as a Transit Village. At the time, downtown officials in Westfield said the task force was studying Westfield as a potential Transit Village, but the town was not seeking the status. Westfield officials have not pursued the Transit Village status since the July 2009 tour.

Cranford's Transit Village status, granted in 2003, has led to the construction of the Cranford Crossing mixed-used project on South Avenue, along with consideration of a mixed-use development along the Rahway River across from the south side of Cranford's train station.

In Morristown, one of the original Transit Village communities, Michael Fabrizio, the executive director of the Morristown Partnership, which runs the town’s special improvement district, said he agrees that the Transit Village designation was not the only thing responsible for property value growth in the town. He places the bulk of the credit with New Jersey Transit’s decision in the 1990s to upgrade the Morris and Essex rail line to have direct access to midtown Manhattan. 

Fabrizio said the Midtown Direct access led to the town seeking the Transit Village status and putting into place a series of mixed-use developments in the downtown area. In the last decade, Morristown has seen a growth in businesses, bars and restaurants in the downtown, along with new apartment and condominium projects. This includes the teardown of the former Epstein’s Department Store across from the Morristown Green and construction of a mixed-use condominium, parking and retail project, along with the development of new condos on the grounds of the Vail Mansion.

“At the end of the day, the significance of the transit hub is important,” Fabrizio said.