Overview

Station Location and Study Area

The study area is defined centered at the Greensboro Transit Authority Transit Hub, located at 234 E Washington St. The extent of the station area is a ½ mile circle from the station center, which is further broken down into a Transit Core within the first ¼ mile and a Transit Neighborhood within the second ¼ mile radius.

Socioeconomics

Activity Unit Density (2020 Census and 2020 LEHD/LODES)

Activity Unit Density (2020 Census and 2022 DataAxle Employment)

Station Area Summary

Absolute Estimates

Population (2020) Employment (2020 LEHD) Employment (2022 DataAxle)
4363 16423 16191

Density Estimates

Pop/Acre (2020) Emp/Acre (2020 LEHD) Emp/Acre (2022 DataAxle) AU/Acre (LEHD) AU/Acre (DataAxle)
6.1 28.5 28.9 34.6 35

Largest Employers (DataAxle)

Business Name Estimated Employment (DataAxle 2022)
Unx Inc 2500
Lincoln Financial 1001
News & Record Inc 750
Guilford County Detention Center 563
Arch Mortgage Insurance Company 561
Guilford County Sheriff 550
The Fresh Market, Inc 350
Greensboro Conservation Program 300
Healthy Start 300
First Point Collection Resources 200
Triad Stage, Inc 195
Engineering Administration 150
Firstpoint Resouces, Inc 150
Greensboro Construction 150
Hush 150
Bennett College 150
Brooks Pierce McLendon 150

Policy Measures

2.0 Supportive Regulations

Overview of current zoning to support zoning assessment.

Zoning obtained from Greensboro GIS resources.

Map of Zoning in Station Area

Tabular Summary of Zoning in Station Area

Zone Acres Portion of Station Area
Central Business 247.80 49.3%
Light Industrial 69.31 13.8%
Traditional Neighborhood 45.41 9.0%
Residential Single-family 5 31.38 6.2%
Public and Institutional 27.35 5.4%
Commercial-Medium 17.07 3.4%
Residential Multi-family 12 14.00 2.8%
Planned Unit Development 11.62 2.3%
Conditional District Central Business 11.10 2.2%
Office 9.12 1.8%
Residential Single-family 7 7.71 1.5%
Residential Multi-family 18 5.66 1.1%
University Mixed Use 2.02 0.4%
Conditional District Office 0.79 0.2%
Heavy Industrial 0.63 0.1%
Residential Single-family 3 0.56 0.1%
Commercial-Low 0.50 0.1%
Conditional District Commercial-Medium 0.40 0.1%

Market Measures

6.0 Recent Development Activity

Number of proposed, approved, and under construction multifamily, commercial, and mixed-use projects (as described above) for the last 3 years. Data from Greensboro GIS resources.

Pending and Completed Projects in Station Area Within Past 3 Years

Issued Date Status Total Cost Use Street Address Project Description
2023-08-18 20:35:00 Issued 749000 Factory-Industrial 345 S ELM Construction of Brewhouse
2021-07-28 12:14:00 Final Inspection Made 15938000 Apartment Building 900 E MARKET E-Plan–This is currently in TRC Review # 2019-2627. Construction of four apartment buildings and one shell retail facility on a 13.7 acre property. This application is for Apartment Building 900 only, three story apartment building with 64 units, lease office, and fitness room. Building 601 is a mirror of building 900 and includes (2) additional units in lieu of lease and fitness spaces.
NA Active 625000 Shell Only 300 W WASHINGTON Shell restaurant building and associated site improvements
NA Active 22500000 Hotels/Motels 200 S DAVIE New Westin Hotel
2021-08-10 16:25:00 Issued 23733882 Storage 110 S DAVIE Garage structure with offices per plan #2019-1561 exclusive of upfit areas for hotel and tenant spaces to be reviewed and permitted separately. This project is continuing under the 2012 NC Building Code. See permits #201910200 (Caissons-north) and 201912143 (original shell-garage structure superseded by this permit) for previous inspection.”
2021-06-21 15:29:00 Final Inspection Made 2250000 Apartment Building 902 E MARKET E-Plan–This is currently in TRC Review # 2019-2627. Construction of four apartment buildings and one shell retail facility on a 13.7 acre property. This application is for Apartment Building 900 only, three story apartment building with 64 units, lease office, and fitness room. Building 601 is a mirror of building 900 and includes (2) additional units in lieu of lease and fitness spaces.
2021-06-21 18:48:00 Final Inspection Made 2250000 Apartment Building 603 NA BISHOP BAILEY SHELL ONLY - APARMENT BUILDING - 21 UNITS
2021-07-27 17:25:00 Final Inspection Made 20267587 Apartment Building 601 NA BISHOP BAILEY SHELL-CONSTRUCTING A NEW 101390 SF MULTIFAMILY BUILDING-66 units

7.0 Redevelopment Potential

1. Vacant and underutilized properties

Acres of land where the improvement-to-land value ratio is less than 1.0.

Parcels obtained from Guilford County GIS services in January 2024.

Additional Parcel Data Points

Total Number of Dwelling Units (in parcel dataset)
Total Dwelling Units
536
Parcel Land Area (ROW removed, incudign RR)
Parcel Acres (ROW removed)
343.5

Map of improvement-to-land value ratio

Summary of improvement-to-land value ratio results

Improvement to Land Ratio Category Acres in Category
Greater Than or Equal to 1 227.3
Less Than 1 178.7

2. Parcel size and ownership

2a. Number of unique property owners per acre

the number of unique owners divided by the sum of parcel acreage, excluding public right-of-way

Unique Parcel Owners Parcel Acres Unique Owners / Acre
780 343.47 2.27

2b. Average parcel size: the number of parcels per block

Average across all blocks in the station area of number of parcels within each block in the station area.

The purpose of this measure is to calculate the number of parcels per block. Two different methods are utilized here to define a block. One is using 2020 Census Blocks. The second is derived from the drive auto network, cleaned and simplified utilizing OSMNX.

Census Block Method (Recommended due to railroad ROW)

In this method, blocks are defined exactly as they are represented in the Census 2020 block dataset. The number of parcel centroids (with ROW excluded) are counted per block.

Street Network Method

In this method, blocks are defined based on the auto street network. OSM streets are obtained, cleaned, and simplified utilizing the OSMNX package. Polygons are created from this street network, and parcel polygons are then counted per block.

Comparison of Block Identification Method

The boundaries resulting from both block identification methods are compared here.

Blocks Per Acre Results

This table presents the station area results for each method.

Mean Parcels / Block Method
9.03 Census Blocks (recommended due to railroad ROW)
10.00 Street Network Blocks

3. Land Use

The percentage of parcels that are non-vacant single-family residential.

Parcel Land Use Acres Percent of Station Area
COMM 92.088 26.8%
GOV OWNED 49.555 14.4%
IND 40.890 11.9%
RESIDENTIAL 36.629 10.7%
OFFICE 33.419 9.7%
INSTITUTIONAL 31.632 9.2%
VACANT 23.427 6.8%
APART 20.252 5.9%
RETAIL 3.582 1.0%
TOWNHOUSE 3.516 1.0%
CONDO 2.543 0.7%
FUNERAL HM/CEMETERY 1.605 0.5%
MULTI-FAMILY<4 1.726 0.5%
SCHOOL/COLL/UNIV 1.036 0.3%
HOTEL/MOTEL 0.775 0.2%
TWINHOME 0.798 0.2%

8.0 Real Estate Values

Relevant Census variables are obtained from the Census API to calculate the necessary inputs for the TOD tool. These values are based on the 5-year ACS survey at the block group and tract level. Census years 2022 and 2012 are utilized.

1. Median home value and 2. Median gross rent

Weighted average of the Median Home Value and Median gross rent for each block group or tract within the station area, based on the percentage of area of each census block group within the station area.

Median Home Value (2022) Median Rent (2022)
$242,459 $1,113

Physical Measures

11.0 Transit Travel Shed

The Transit Travel Shed measure uses the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s (CNT) All Transit tool. This tool includes a job accessibility measure that calculates the number of jobs accessible by public transportation within 30 minutes.

Jobs Accessible in 30 Minute Transit Ride
117,687

13.0 Block Size

The TOD Readiness Too User Guide and Documentation (2016) tool provides the following description for calculating block length:

How do you evaluate block size? Average block length can be calculated through a simple GIS exercise with a shapefile of the local street network that includes all of the local streets, not just the state roads or major roads. The GIS analyst explodes the street network within the station area (an automated process that splits segment lengths at intersections) and computes the average segment length between intersections.

One challenge with this approach is around the nuances of how spatial networks are represented. What a GIS may interpret as an intersection may not count as what a planner using judgement might consider as an intersection, as documented here. To refine this assessment, OMSnx is utilized to obtain and pre-process the station area network before calculating average block length.

Method 2: Census blocks assuming 4-sided

Calculate the perimeter per block in the station area. Due to the complexities of this calculation, it is difficult to calculate this using the street-network derived dataset. Therefore, due to the similarities, we only calculate this using the Census block definitions.

Method 2 Result

Mean Block Length (Ft.) - Not recommended
513.09

14.0 Path Connectivity

The Path Connectivity measure requires a simple visual assessment of an aerial image (e.g. Google Earth) to determine whether any large barriers disrupt the street network, how frequently connections across the barrier are provided, and whether significant portions of the street network are disconnected.

To support this measure, a network-distance walk buffer is generated. Comparing the stright-line and network-based walk buffers provides a perspective on barriers and connectivity from the station center.

15.0 Bicycle Comfort

Bicycle comfort is quantified by calculating the percentage of road centerline miles that have either very slow posted speeds (20 mph or less) or designated bicycle facilities.

Map of Bicycle Facilities and Speed Limits

Data obtained from Greensboro County GIS resources.

Tabular Summary

Miles per Hour Assessment

Speed Limit Study Area Miles % of Network
20 7.32 43.8%
25 2.39 14.3%
30 0.52 3.1%
35 6.47 38.7%
Total 16.70 100.0%

Bike Facility Assessment

Bicycle Facility Type Speed Limit Study Area Miles
Buffered Bike Lane 35 0.69

Results

Category Miles
Speed limit 25 MPH or below 9.71
Speed limit 25 MPH or above w/ bike bike facility 0.69
Total centerline miles in study area 16.70
Portion study area 20 MPH or below OR with bike facility 62.3%

16.0 Community Gathering Places

The Community Gathering Places measure is the percentage of area within the half-mile radius station area that is considered to be parks or open space. This value can be calculated from the county or city tax assessor’s GIS parcel shapefile.

The percentage of land within the station area that is considered to be parks or open space.

Parkland in Station Area

Park data is retrieved from Guilford GIS resources.

Map of Parks

Table of Parks

Park Name Park Acres
LeBauer Park 2.48
Douglas Park 1.78
Center City Park 1.71
Ole Asheboro Park 1.13
Youth Park Plaza 0.72
Richardson Park 0.69
Woven Works Park 0.55
Southside Town Square 0.25
Claudette Burroughs-White Pocket Park 0.11
Mural Park 0.01

Social Measures

17.0 Diversity of Existing Uses within Walking Distance

Walk Score (www.walkscore.com) provides a free analysis of the density and diversity of destinations that are within walking distance of a specified point. By simply entering the street address of the center point of the station area, Walk Score will provide a score from 0 to 100 of the surrounding area’s walkable nature. Score calculated at center of station area using WalkScore API.

Walkscore
86

18.0 Civic or Educational Uses

The Civic or Educational Uses measure requires a qualitative assessment of the presence and size of civic, cultural, and educational facilities. This measure is evaluated through the following series of questions.

  1. Is there a local elementary, middle, or high school within the station area?
  2. Is there at least one of the following within the station area: City Hall, Post Office, or similar government/ civic use?
  3. Is there at least one of the following within the station area: Museum, Library, or cultural performance hall of local significance?
  4. Is there at least one of the following within the station area: Museum, Library, or cultural performance hall of regional significance?
  5. Is there a college or university within the station area?

To support this assessment, cultural sites are obtained from the following sources and mapped below.

20.0 Housing & Transportation Affordability

The Center for Neighborhood Technology calculates the percentage of household income that is devoted to housing and transportation costs, and provides this data for free at www.htaindex.org. Measure calculated is the average H+T Affordability Index value for all the block groups within the station area, weighted by area.

Map of HT Index Values at Station Area

Tabular Summary of Average HT Index Value that Intersects with Station Area

Area-weighted average of H+T Index score calculated for blocks groups in station area (2019 dataset, latest published as of January 2024).

Mean H+T AMI - Station Area
35.87

  1. Renaissance Planning, ↩︎