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Finance & Commerce > Print > Culture change or fad? Twin Cities population shifts towaPage 2of 3 ... The data also show that transitway corridors in 2010 took up 8.4 percent of the region’s land area. But by 2030, it’s expected that transitway corridors will be home to 31.6 percent of mixed- use acres and 22.7 percent of high-density acres. The bottom line, Kari told the Met Council, is that the new major transit corridors — like the Hiawatha, Central and Southwest light rail lines — are being built in established highway corridors. “You put two and two together, and you can see that where we are investing in new infrastructure is in the transitway corridors,” Kari told the council. “We are out of the highway business [out of building new roads].” In the interview, Kari wondered whether the trend will stick: “As we come out of this recession, it will be very interesting to see how the market responds. Is that a permanent shift toward more permanent attached and smaller single-family detached housing?” He thinks it just might be. “The transit system really complements the highway corridors,” Kari added. “Like when we had the railway- and water-transportation systems, I think our highway and transit systems will work together to give us a real transportation network. “And where they overlap are the places that will see real growth.” An example of a successful mixed-use, close-in development is the Ellipse on Excelsior Boulevard in St. Louis Park, which opened on Sept. 1, 2010. It’s within a half-mile radius of a planned stop along the Southwest Corridor LRT line and just off Highway 100. Robb Bader, vice president of Bader Development, an arm of St. Louis Park-based Steven-Scott Management, said the 132 rental units in the Ellipse have been 100 percent leased since February — and the four retail spots have been filled and open since June 1. “We had confidence in the residential lease-up; we knew that would be a good area,” Bader said. “The commercial, we were pleasantly surprised at how quickly that leased up.” Bader said his firm is in initial discussions with St. Louis Park officials about beginning a second phase — Ellipse II, which would be a 50- to 60-unit rental development next to Ellipse I. Rents at Ellipse I range from about $1,100 for a 550-square-foot studio to about $2,300 for a 1,400-square-foot two-bedroom plus den. “We certainly know that the rents need to justify construction costs, and right now that is happening close in to the city so that’s where The numbers on the left of the chart represent we are building — along with many other the existing and expected acres that “mixed-use” developments took up in the metro area in 2000, people trying to get projects going,” Bader 2005 and 2010 — and estimates for 2030. The said. projections to 2030 are based on land-use estimates contained in “comp plans” that metro cities last updated with the Met Council in 2008. htt://finance-commerce.com/w-content/luins/dmcsociabletoolbar/w-rint.h?=09/14/2011 pppg__ppppp...