Light rail won't reach the Twin Cities' southwestern suburbs until at least 2019, but it's already top of mind for cities along the proposed route.

"The focus of the City Council agenda will be light rail for the next couple of years," Hopkins Mayor Gene Maxwell said this week.

"Southwest light rail is going to be a huge issue for us going forward," said Tom Harmening, city manager of St. Louis Park. "That will be the catalyst for a lot of change."

Hopkins and St. Louis Park each are set to get three stations along the Southwest Corridor line. Hopkins also will be the location of a maintenance and operations facility expected to create about 150 jobs.

Both cities have seen building activity in recent years based on the expectation that the trains will be coming. The Gallery Flats apartments in downtown Hopkins opened earlier this year, and developers are sniffing around for more potential building sites.

"We've got developers who normally don't look at Hopkins who are looking at us now," said City Manager Mike Mornson.

St. Louis Park has seen a wave of development along the rail route, which roughly parallels Hwy. 7 before turning south toward Eden Prairie.

All told, nearly 14 million square feet of new office space, 1.2 million square feet of retail and more than 13,000 new residential units are projected to go up along the Southwest Corridor line, according to Hennepin County planners.

Sometimes overlooked in the controversy over the Southwest line is the proposed Bottineau line, which will serve the northern suburbs.

But it's not being overlooked in Golden Valley, which is the starting point of the proposed route.

The city has to officially give its consent to the proposal, and Mayor Shep Harris said he expects it to be a lively topic in coming months.

West/North Metro Team reporter John Reinan covers the cities of Bloomington, Richfield, Edina, Hopkins, Golden Valley and St. Louis Park.