When Indianapolis developer David Flaherty proposed his housing project in Ramsey, he looked beyond the city's mostly vacant 400-acre development area and focused on the railroad tracks in the distance.
"We want to build high-density housing where you'll be able to walk from your apartment unit to the rail station," Flaherty said. "This whole project was dependent on Ramsey getting a Northstar commuter rail station."
From potato fields in Big Lake to empty lots in Ramsey once linked with defaulted loans and bank fraud, cities along the Northstar commuter line see their rail stations as key selling points to lure new development.
Although the two-year-old, 41-mile Northstar line has struggled to meet ridership projections, city and business officials see signs a commuter line can flourish someday, even during high unemployment.
"In the midst of a very bad economy, these stations have attracted investment," said Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, a driving force behind Northstar and other rail lines. "The space and opportunities are there."
Nowhere has that message echoed louder than in tiny Big Lake.
"Northstar put Big Lake on the map," said Katie Larsen, senior city planner.
With 10,000 residents, Big Lake is the least populated of cities with Northstar stations. But with 300 available acres and a role as a hub for bus riders who come 30 miles from St. Cloud to hop the Northstar to Minneapolis, Big Lake leaders envision a developer's dream.