DUBLIN -- Construction began Friday on a new West Dublin/Pleasanton Bay Area Rapid Transit station, following official groundbreaking ceremonies. The $86 million station, located in the median along Interstate Highway 580 between Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton and Golden Gate Drive in Dublin, is expected to begin operating sometime in 2009. 

 

Funding for construction of the station was generated through a partnership between BART and a joint venture between Oakland-based Ampelon Development Group and global real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, according to a spokeswoman for the developers. Developers say an "integrated transit village" will be constructed in Dublin using money from private developer Windstar Communities. The development will include 210 apartments, a 150-room hotel, office space and 7,500 square feet of retail space. The project also includes parking structures with 1,100 parking spaces. Windstar Communities is looking to rezone the Pleasanton side of the project from commercial property to residential property, according to the developers. 

 

According to developers, financing for the project will come from bonds, public grants and private financing in the form of long-term ground leases on excess land parcels granted to the developer of the commercial portion of the project. BART revenues will account for about $50 million of the $80 million cost of the project, which is also funded by local and state grants, according to BART spokesman Linton Johnson.