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Caribbean Business Imagine being able to work, shop and take care of business with public and private entities without ever having to get in or out of a car. Ciudad Red, an ambitious initiative aimed at supporting development along the Tren Urbano route, was created precisely to turn that ideal scenario into a reality. "The goal of the program is to build a transit village surrounding the Tren Urbano corridor so our next generation will only have to use their vehicles on weekends," said Secretary of Transportation Gabriel Alcaraz Emmanuelli. The Ciudad Red program was started in early 2005 and falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation & Public Works (DTOP by its Spanish acronym). It includes the Tren Urbano Joint Development Program, and a policy directive to position government facilities as near to Tren Urbano stations as possible, as well as to create innovative public and private mixed-use urban developments. The Joint Development Program lends support to private development projects built on or around transit property under a specific business arrangement with the transit agency. DTOP and the Highways & Transportation Authority (HTA) own a great deal of land surrounding the Tren Urbano stations, which is made available to developers through a competitive bid process. The HTA assumes responsibility for the urban design parameters while the Urbanism Directorate oversees the developers' plans. Norberto Guzman, newly appointed assistant to the secretary in charge of the Urbanism Directorate, said several projects are imminent and others are in the pipeline. He mentioned the recent groundbreaking for a 194-unit residential project at the Martinez Nadal station, as well as three other projects that are expected to get underway this year including a 146-unit residential project at Martinez Nadal and two mixed-use projects at the Roosevelt Station and Domenech Station. The former is a residential project with retail space on its ground level, while the latter will combine retail and office space and housing. In the pipeline are two large-scale mixed-use projects in Hato Rey. One will be located at the Acuaexpreso site across from the Jose Agrelot Coliseum, while the second will be at the corner of Roosevelt and Muñoz Rivera Avenue. "We're currently evaluating proposals for another large mixed use project at Cupey Station and will select a developer soon," said Guzman, who spent seven years in Tren Urbano's Architecture & Urban Planning Department working on improving the Tren Urbano station areas before taking over as head of the Urbanism Directorate in early February. In his new position, he will oversee not only Ciudad Red, but also other important efforts under the jurisdiction of the Urbanism Directorate. Guzman said the Cupey project would combine the new Department of Education headquarters, new residential housing, parking for Tren Urbano passengers and a dramatic pedestrian connection between the station and the UPR Botanical Gardens. Guzman said Ciudad Red is designed specifically to support much-needed public and private joint ventures that will create a more transit- and pedestrian-friendly network, among other benefits. "The proximity to the stations is what makes these joint ventures beneficial in the physical sense," explained Guzman, "but they are also joint ventures in an economic and operational sense since the monies that are collected for development rights go directly back into the improvement of the transit system and in many cases developers agree to maintain or improve surrounding public facilities." Other private developments around the Tren Urbano stations may also benefit from Ciudad Red: Government will encourage mixed-use development by facilitating the approval for the project's necessary permits and endorsements. In exchange, many developers must agree to maintain or improve surrounding public areas. The new head of the Urbanism Directorate said Ciudad Red has tremendous potential to improve the quality of life of the residents of Puerto Rico. "This is a visionary effort to use the Tren Urbano investment as an organizing framework for a better, more sustainable, and more economically successful pattern of land use and development in the San Juan metropolitan area," he explained. "This is an important step toward making a world-class city even better."
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