Summary

Action Items

• [ ] Andrew to speak with Lori Wincheski (CATS Real Estate Manager) about involving brokers in the acquisition process when she returns from conference next week
• [ ] Explore scheduling a follow-up lunch or coffee meeting between Andrew, Lori Wincheski, and Rob to discuss broker engagement scenarios
• [ ] Andrew to note broker inclusion in the upcoming real estate management program RFP evaluation

Silver Line – Minimum Operable Segment (MOS)

• The MOS (minimum operable segment) runs from Coliseum/Ovens Arena (east side) to the airport — this is what can be funded within the sales tax referendum
• Route travels adjacent to Independence Blvd, along 277, then follows Norfolk Southern through Charlotte Gateway Station, then adjacent to Wilkinson Blvd to the airport
• CATS made a strategic decision to run outside the Norfolk Southern right-of-way to avoid railroad veto risk and align with where development energy is (Berry Hill, Reno station areas)
• Roughly 70-foot corridor is the standard right-of-way held; ~100 feet at stations to accommodate pedestrians and ADA requirements
• Line is largely elevated through much of the western segment, preserving curb cuts and cross-access in many locations

Value Engineering & Eastern Extension

• A value engineering study (required by the PAVE Act legislation) is underway to see if the line can be extended east affordably
• Conclusion: cannot reach Matthews, but one or two additional stations are feasible — target terminus is Conference Drive
• Conference Drive is preferred due to interstate access, deep parcels for a garage, Hendrick Automotive corridor, and existing road network
• Planning committee presentation happened last month; formal recommendation expected early August, then board action for a "refined locally preferred alternative"
• Five value engineering items have public-engagement implications; one key change is the Coliseum station location

Coliseum / Ovens Arena Station Change

• Original plan: station in the middle of the Coliseum parking lot, requiring rebuilding the entire site and a new garage to maintain CRBA's required 4,000-space parking obligation
• Revised plan: run along the front side of the Coliseum, take out the hotel and Golden Green, place an elevated station there — minimally impacting CRBA's parking
• CRBA has never been comfortable with the original plan; the revised approach reduces CATS' burden significantly

Key Station & Route Highlights

• Morningside Station: behind the church near Morningside, serving Plaza Midwood
• The Crossing site station: well-integrated, serves both the crossing development and surrounding area
• Gold Line connection: Gold Line currently ends near 7th St; proposed extension up to Central Avenue and out to Eastland
• Blue Line / Silver Line connection: elevated ~50–60 feet above Blue Line near 9th/11th St with vertical pedestrian circulation connecting the two lines; significant redevelopment opportunity around Hal Marshall county property
• Grand Street / Fourth Ward station: elevated station serving that neighborhood
• Iron District: line crosses over Norfolk Southern and runs through the Iron District area; Summit Avenue station status uncertain due to access issues from NS and I-77 South tolling project
• Coyote Joe's (24 acres): line elevates and bridges over Wilkinson Blvd at this location; elevated structure may preserve access underneath, reducing impact
• Maintenance Facility: handshake agreement to preserve a site near Morris Chapel / Billy Graham Pkwy
• Airport terminus: ends at Little Rock Road airport entrance; Crossland selected for airport master plan

NEPA Process & Timeline

• NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) clearance is required before any right-of-way acquisition can begin
• Process: ~6 months of prep, then a 2-year statutory deadline once Notice of Intent is issued — roughly 3 years total
• Property acquisition realistically 2–5 years away; full takes (demolitions) may move faster than partial takes
• CATS will become an independent organization (no longer part of the City of Charlotte) as of January 1st
• CATS is targeting September board action on the refined locally preferred alternative to kick off formal design
• Red Line is approximately one month ahead of Silver Line in the process; both lines estimated at roughly 10 years to completion based on historical precedent (Blue Line: 7 yrs; Blue Line Extension: 10 yrs)

Property Acquisition Process

• CATS will conduct appraisals for all properties above a minimum threshold; property owners may counter with their own appraisal
• Condemnation is expected to be used in many cases (Blue Line Extension: ~half of ~330 properties condemned)
• FTA federal funding adds contractual requirements and requires FTA authority to pay above appraised value
• CATS estimates acquiring 500–600 properties for the Silver Line (vs. 336 for Blue Line Extension)
• City of Charlotte General Services real estate division has historically managed acquisition; CATS' new independent structure means this process is still being defined

Developer / Entitlement Guidance

• CATS cannot buy property until NEPA is complete, but can work with developers on reservation agreements — request a 70–100 ft corridor be kept clear as an interim use (e.g., surface parking), with CATS acquiring it later
• Reserved corridor should not count as required parking, required tree save, or required BMPs in entitlement submittals

Real Estate Broker Engagement Opportunity

• Key value proposition: brokers provide market-grounded broker opinions of value (BOV) that can validate or challenge appraisals — appraisers often overshoot or undershoot market value
• Andrew acknowledged CATS currently lacks a broker-type role on the team to stress-test appraisal assumptions
• Andrew committed to raising this with Lori Wincheski (CATS Real Estate Manager) when she returns from conference next week
• Rob proposed a dedicated team structure (similar to bank REO work), available on-call, compensated partly on consulting basis and partly fee-contingent (e.g., ~4% on acquisition)
• Suggested starting broker engagement after year one of NEPA rather than waiting until NEPA completion

Red Line (Brief)

• Red Line is moving approximately one month ahead of Silver Line in the process
• Corridor involves reusing existing rail with new tracks and stations — simpler than Silver Line
• For specific property questions near the Red Line (North End), Andrew referred to Brian O'Donnell as project manager
• One attendee assembling a parcel near a likely Red Line station stop and wants to understand development restrictions — Andrew to connect them with Brian O'Donnell

Notes

Transcript

. of late and we're just getting peppered with questions. This corridor is undergoing a major revitalization. There are groups coming in from out of town now looking at properties. He's got a piece that closes hopefully in a month. He and I are getting ready to list 24 acres as Coyote Joe's and take that to market. And we've already got developers calling us. We've got – I manage three units in a building I developed across the street called the Dyestuff Building, which backs up to the rail line.

We've got – I can sit here and go through a long list up and down this whole corridor, and here's the problem. They're coming to us and asking us for answers, and I don't have answers. His dad, who you and I last – we were last talking to Scott Borks with Trimac Properties. They rezoned and redid the property at the corner. So we just – we – to help you, to help ourselves, and to help our clients, we need more information.

And I know that I lived through this in South Bend. And South Bend was a little easier in some ways because you already had a dedicated railroad.

In a corridor. Right.

But I just, we've got to be able to tell these folks stuff and we've got to be able to prepare for the best or the worst case scenario. And quite frankly, we've got to be prepared to sit down and work through some pretty difficult stuff. I'll give you an example. The Dyestuff building over here, type up 245- Just zoom in. Type up 2459- That was in the set, yeah.

• Layers, there should be a cat's layer, and you'll see a silver liners.

• That's fine. So now blow in, blow into this. Zoom in to this property right here, Thomas. - He's got it. - Okay. So, so pull it up this way just a hair. So I get the line.

No, just zoom out.

Okay, right there. That's good. So here's the Norfolk Southern line. Here's the Geistup property. From the plans I've seen, Katz is proposing to run right away down through the north side of the line. Correct. Which, from what I've seen, takes out all this parking in the back. Yes. But it's even more detrimental than that. This driveway is downsloping the whole way down and it doesn't get to bottom grade until you get to this line.

Then you turn. If you do this, all of this parking is rendered useless because it has no access. Okay. So now you're posed with basically... Making a 60,000 square foot office building that trades for $400 a foot completely useless.

Okay. Well, can I zoom out for a moment? Yeah. I don't want to be getting you guys in there. That's an interesting challenge that we'll be up against. Let me kind of – because I don't know everybody.

I know – Go ahead and introduce yourself. I'm Andrew, and I've been with CATS for –

26 years now. My first job out of college was to work on the Blue Line, then the Blue Line Extension. I have a sweeping experience at Katz going from railroad agreements to civil design to station architecture to systems engineering and real estate. I've been in charge of real estate for the Blue Line Extension. All the deals that made the real estate work for the blue line extension was kind of my bread and butter.

And it's challenging, and the silver line is more so. And so since, say, 2019 to now, I've been in charge of the planning and the initial design of the silver line, trying to get it to a point where we can enter into what's called NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. So because this project will be paid for partially with federal funds, you have to have NEPA clearance, which is the environmental clearance that all the big DOTs have to go through to push these projects forward.

So where we've been over the last, say, six years has been a process of-- and this is before we had local funding. So in 2019 to 2025, we were just kind of winging a prayer You know, trying to put a project forward to coordinate as best we can with the DOT, with the railroads, with private property owners to try to preserve the ability for this old line to occur at a later date without that funding.

We were pushing forward more on the southeast because we felt like the kind of the odds were stacked in that way because primarily because of politics and... For Matthews? Yeah, for Matthews, right. That was where we were in 2024. and Matthews and also the DOT, there's maybe some better opportunities to preserve rights for the DOT along US 74 there. That may or may not be true anymore. But our priorities up to 2024 was pushing forward the Silver Line Southeast.

At that time it was two projects. One was from Charlotte Gateway Station Center City to the town of Matthews. That was like phase one. Phase two was from Charlotte Gateway Station to I-45 and the airport. That was the theory in 2024. Then, you know, all the funding conversations started to occur. You know, that's when all the initiatives of the transit system plan, the mobility referendum, all that started to kind of happen in 2024 and 2025.

Then we kind of went and we kind of reshook the plan to right-size that plan that went from Matthews to the to the I-45 at the airport when we figured out that we couldn't afford that within the sales tax. Even with that penny sales tax, it's not enough because the Silver Line is so expensive and so complex and so many aerial structures and so much real estate. So there was a process to take the entire system plan, includes the Red Line, Silver Line, Blue Line to Ballantyne, Gold Line, and figure out what is the projects, what is the way to configure those projects

that right-sizes them to the funding. From that we've created this.

There was one other thing that happened too. NCSX came back and agreed to sell you the red line.

Right. I'll give that to you. That's our system plan. That was what was adopted in 2025 by our previous board, the Metropolitan Transit Commission. And that lays out kind of the vision for if we were to achieve that new funding, which we ultimately did with the referendum, how would we spend that money, right? So we created this as a tool to kind of say, okay, if we get a penny tax and once the MTC acts, this was created between when the MTC acted and the sales tax was passed.

So this is basically our sales pitch. Hey, if you give us money, this is what we're going to spend it on. So we have those sitting around, so please, I use those a lot to hand out because I think that tells the story for what the current thinking of the initiative is that was the substance of the sales tax referendum. So as focusing in on the silver line, once we kind of got into understanding with like what the 40% for roads and the red line has to be first and all these hooks and obligations that came from

the payback and the payback is the legislation that enabled the referendum. And with that, again, there was all these requirements. If you give you a penny, 40% has to go to roads first and the red line has to be first and this, that, and you can't go over this much percentage for a rail. And, but you know, there's all these hooks that were put into it. Once we kind of laid those hooks out into our financial model, we came back with a silver lining that was much shorter in the short term.

And we called that The MOS, and I'll try to keep out of jargon, but it's the minimum operable segment or it's the minimum project that we can afford that still makes sense. And that goes from Coliseum Ovens, where the Bowflex is, where the checkers play on the east side, to the airport. We can afford that within the sales tax.