The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced it will hold a Union Station Master Commercial Developer Industry Forum in an effort to attract interest from private developers and solicit feedback on a procurement process to select a Master Commercial Developer for Los Angeles Union Station (LAUS). The event will take place at LAUS on Friday, October 13, 2017 from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Ticket Concourse within Union Station.
Metro is in the process of preliminary design, engineering and environmental clearance for Link US, a Metro project designed to meet the long-term regional rail needs at LAUS by allowing the station to function more efficiently and providing a better overall passenger experience. The Link US project schedule anticipates completion of environmental review and the adoption of a preferred alternative by late 2018.
In keeping with Metro’s goal for LAUS, Metro is interested in selecting a Master Commercial Developer for LAUS by the end of 2018, to ensure that design for the property, including both transit infrastructure and commercial development, is holistic and interconnected. The Master Developer and Link US design team will work closely together on site planning and connectivity.
The process for selecting a master commercial developer will rely on the vision, principles and goals for the station that were developed with public input in the master planning process that occurred between 2012 and 2014. The future vision of the station is centered on three principles: transit optimization, destination and connectivity.
The Industry Forum will provide commercial developers a chance to learn more about the project and seek input from qualified developers on the most appropriate solicitation process. If the feedback leads toward a typical Request for Information and Qualifications (RFIQ) and Request for Proposals (RFP) process, Metro would then target that process to start late 2017, with the goal of having a recommendation to the Metro Board of Directors to negotiate with the selected team by summer 2018.
Metro owns approximately 50 contiguous acres encompassing the historic station, the rail yard, associated transportation facilities, Metro’s headquarters building and bus plaza, surface and structured parking and a nearby site privately operated by a restaurant. Daily transit boardings at Union Station total 116,000 today and is anticipated to grow to 220,000 by 2040. Metro is seeking qualified developers to plan, design, construct and operate high-intensity, mixed-use, transit-oriented development projects on the Metro-owned properties of Los Angeles Union Station.
