The “Triangle Transit Authority”:http://ridetta.org/Home/News_Events/8-05TTA-Cherokeetalksbegin.htm recently awarded a major contract to guide development around the future TTA rail stations. I’m not quite sure whether this is also a management contract for the station facilities themselves or what, but hopefully having a developer in the playing this early on will ensure that station land is used for development before parking. Oddly enough, the contract winners: PB PlaceMaking, run by CNU long-timer GB Arrington, and Cherokee Investment Partners, run by Tom Darden. I sat next to Tom Darden, Jr. in sixth-grade science class — and in seventh grade orchestra, sat behind now-Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker’s son. Small world.

bq. the Triangle Transit Authority on its transit-oriented sustainable development project. The regional rail system has the potential to help shape the future of this region,” Darden said. “Transit oriented development — a blend of retail, office, housing, entertainment and recreation — is a critical element to mass transit systems nationwide.”

Jack Hagel in “the N&O”:http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/2752582p-9190305c.html quotes Darden: “We would be looking for development that would be relatively urban, which would support transit infrastructure and benefit from it.”