The majority of transit-oriented developments (TODs) are

The majority of transit-oriented developments (TODs) are built adjacent to rail lines, but the Twin Creeks project under construction in Central Point in southwestern Oregon, is part of an effort to boost regional bus service. Comprised of 1,500 homes and 200,000 square feet of retail and commercial space on 230 acres, Twin Creeks is designed around a high-density core that can support bus links to Medford, the region’s primary urban center. All homes in the TOD will be within a 10-minute walk of a bus stop. The design department in the Portland branch of Parsons Brinkerhoff is responsible for the master plan and also helped create a new TOD District and Corridor zoning code for the site. Patrick Sweeney, a landscape architect with Parsons Brinkerhoff says developer Brett Moore of Twin Creeks Development LLC originally intended to build a conventional subdivision with approximately 500 units on the site. When a transit study by McKeever Morris Architects (now a part of Parsons Brinkerhoff) identified Central Point as a node in a regional bus system, Moore asked the firm to design a denser and more diverse neighborhood. Sweeney says the potential for increasing the value of the project was crucial to the developer’s decision to attempt a TOD. A conventional subdivision would be valued at $50 million, but Twin Creeks would be worth $300 million, due to its higher density and mix of uses, Sweeney estimates.