Capital Metro is considering redeveloping a 6-acre site of prime real estate in North Austin.

In September the agency issued a request for proposals for its 11 real estate properties. In about two months the agency plans to issue a request for information to ask for ideas on redeveloping the North Lamar Transit Center, an aging Park & Ride facility located at the northwest corner of North Lamar Boulevard and US 183. Capital Metro opened NLTC in 1987, making it the oldest Park & Ride.

The idea to gauge interest for redeveloping real estate came in June after Capital Metro's board of directors approved hiring Endeavor Real Estate Group and Columbus Realty Partners to develop a 10.5-acre site near the Plaza Saltillo MetroRail station.

"Now that we've got a developer selected for the Saltillo property, the board realized that Capital Metro has a lot of potential in our real estate beyond what we need for our direct-transit uses," said John Hodges, vice president of real estate and asset management. "We're trying to harvest that value."

The transit agency has a contract with real estate firms Cushman & Wakefield and Oxford Commercial to gather data on the properties' current and future zoning uses, potential rental rates and the best lane use for what developers could build on the sites, such as affordable housing or retail. Hodges said results of gathering that data likely will be presented to the board in December or early 2015.

NLTC is also in need of short-term repairs. On Aug. 4 the transit agency submitted a $520,000 grant application for the Ladders of Opportunity program through the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration for NLTC upgrades.

Capital Metro would match that grant with $130,000. Specifics of how the grant would be used have not yet been determined, but Hodges said it would help the agency to update the site to ADA-accessible facilities and replace weather-worn walls.

The NLTC property is located within the North Austin Civic Association neighborhood planning area. In 2000 the city of Austin approved the NACA neighborhood plan, which establishes land use and zoning for future development.

During the Jan. 28 Capital Metro board meeting, Chris Riley, who sits on both City Council and the Capital Metro board, said he is hopeful redeveloping the site could address the lack of accessing to the NLTC from the east side of Lamar.

"We have a significant piece of land right there on major corridors within walking distance of a rail line that is currently devoted to surface parking that gets used at most 25 percent," he said. "That just suggests we ought to raise a question whether there could be other uses for that site."