Pleasant Hill BART
Overview
The Contra Costa Centre includes the Pleasant Hill BART Station area, a transit village with space for hotels, office and commercial space and housing. It's accessibility to the BART station, Interstate 680 and the county's main bus routes makes Contra Costa Centre convenient and accessible for business and residents.
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The Pleasant Hill BART Station Area is a 140-acre area surrounding the Pleasant Hill Station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART). Built in the early 1970's, the Pleasant Hill Station is now strategically located where BART, I-680, a major sub-regional arterial, a regional trail, and a future light-rail corridor converge. The Pleasant Hill BART Station Area is without challenge with respect to accessibility. The Pleasant Hill BART Station project was explicitly designed to locate employment and housing next to this regional transportation hub. Planners and environmental interest have advocated this type of development for years, and have cited the Pleasant Hill BART Station Area as a prime example of a suburban employment/housing center next to transportation facilities:
- "PLEASANT HILL BART: TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT PRODUCES RESULTS. With the highest concentration of multi-family housing within a quarter mile of any suburban transit hub in northern California, the Pleasant Hill BART Station shows how transit-oriented development can work. Sixty percent of those living in nearby units said BART was a major factor in moving there. Studies have consistently found that 40% of the area residents use BART to commute to their work place."
From "Blueprint for a Sustainable Bay Area", by Urban Ecology, Inc. - "BART's Pleasant Hill Station has advanced the cause of transit village development more than any other station on the system… The Contra Costa County Redevelopment Agency emerged as a key player in bringing (it) about."
From "Transit Villages in the 21st Century," by Michael Bernich and Robert Cevero - "Pleasant Hill BART is an important precedent, because it demonstrates
that transit-oriented development can be successful both in real estate terms
and in transit ridership."
A view of the Pleasant Hill BART area.
From Morris Newman in "California Planning and Development Reporter."
The Pleasant Hill BART Station Area Specific Plan, adopted by the County in 1983, and the companion 1984 Redevelopment Plan have received numerous awards and accolades for good planning. The County Supervisors Association of California recognized the Pleasant Hill BART Specific Plan with its Partnership Award. The Specific Plan has been recognized by the Pacific Rim Council on Urban Development, and the Urban Land Institute as models of suburban transit-based development.