Quote:
Originally Posted by Barnes
Why would CP want to?
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For the large amount of money they'd be paid for use of the land? I would imagine that the worth of that corridor from 4th Street E to 10 Street W would be multiple billions, if it were simply fallow land. It's not worth as much if you have to build around any tunnel, but we're still talking land directly adjacent to a downtown that doesn't really have any other direction to grow.
Not to be distracting (sorry Frink), but long-term where else is the corporate area of downtown going to expand? North is the Bow. East has the Elbow and existing residential areas in the way. West they've already gone as far as they can, with the Bow and railway running beside each other past 14th Street. That block of land is just going to get more and more desirable. Running trains along it just cannot be maximizing its value. Leasing it for 99 year terms, so that CP retains ownership, certainly would look good on their balance sheet.