CapMetro Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Plan
Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
HR&A worked with the City of San José from 2017 through 2021 to negotiate and structure Google’s transformative Downtown West development adjacent to San José’s Diridon Station. Through our strategic advisory and direct participation in complex negotiations, we helped secure a groundbreaking $200 million community benefits package and shaped a Development Agreement that has established a new national model for equitable technology campus development, with community advocates calling it “perhaps the strongest community benefits package for a project of its kind anywhere in the country.”
Confronting the challenge of gentrification and displacement in rapidly growing Austin, HR&A conducted extensive research into national ETOD best practices and analyzed local market conditions across diverse station areas. Our team assessed the specific needs of different communities along the corridor, identifying varied challenges from affordable housing preservation to small business retention. This nuanced understanding allowed us to develop tailored recommendations responsive to each area’s unique context and development pressure.
The resulting ETOD Policy Toolkit delivers 46 strategies across five critical domains: affordable housing, small business support, workforce development, mobility enhancement, and urban design. By creating a station area typology system matched to specific policy prescriptions, HR&A equipped CapMetro with an implementation framework adaptable to varied neighborhood conditions. Throughout the process, we supported robust community engagement that directly shaped our recommendations, ensuring the final strategy reflects community priorities while advancing the Project Connect vision for equitable, transit-oriented growth.
- ETOD Policy Plan
- Project Connect
- From TOD to ETOD: Advancing equity in Austin’s Transit-Oriented Development
- Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat: 2024 Award of Excellence Winner: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
- American Planning Association Texas Chapter: Advancing Diversity and Social Change Award
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HR&A worked with the City of Dallas to develop and implement a groundbreaking Economic Development Policy that prioritizes equitable investment in Southern Dallas and communities of color historically excluded from opportunity. Through comprehensive strategic support, our work is helping turn the City’s bold vision into measurable outcomes—restructuring incentives, aligning City departments, and building a foundation for inclusive, long-term economic growth.
Since 2022, HR&A has supported New York State's Empire State Development to design and implement a comprehensive workforce strategy for the newly established Office of Strategic Workforce Development. The office’s core focus is to establish strategic priorities for job training aligned with industry needs and to fund new programs – through a $150 million grant program – that connect un- and underemployed New Yorkers especially from historically marginalized communities to in-demand, high-quality jobs in priority industries. Ultimately, this internal and external-facing effort seeks to strengthen New York’s economic competitiveness and expand economic opportunity and mobility for all New Yorkers.
