The southernmost segment of the Silver Line is a mecca of used-car lots, RV dealerships and auto parts stores — some of the very industries that the bus service hopes to make obsolete.

It wasn't always that way, said Tim Cochran, city planner for Wyoming and a member of the Interurban Transit Partnership board, which operates The Rapid. And it doesn't have to stay that way, he said.

"Before the construction of U.S. 131, Division Avenue was a main commercial corridor," Cochran said. "But when 131 came in and 28th Street was developed, it pulled a lot of the vitality out of Division."

The exodus of retailers along Division created a niche opportunity for the car dealerships, which could lease or own large lots at bargain prices.

"We think that now the tables are going to turn with the (Silver Line) coming through," Cochran said. "It's going to re-energize the corridor. The car dealerships are certainly welcome to stay there as long as they would like to, but we think opportunities will make themselves available where they will sell their properties and allow them to be redeveloped for more intense uses."

Sam D'Angelo, owner of Autoxsell Sales and Marketing LLC, already is repurposing his former used-car lot on Division Avenue into a retail center called Fisher Station, which is set for an early summer opening.

"If you asked me that five years ago whether we needed more retail in this area, I would've answered 'no,' " D'Angelo said of his project, which he expects to cost more than $1 million.

"The Silver Line does factor in a little bit, but probably a bigger factor is that a Wal-Mart is going in just around the corner from us."

D'Angelo already has signed a Biggby Coffee franchisor and another company as tenants, and he is negotiating with two other potential occupants of the 6,000-square-foot retail center — an expansion of about 3,200 square feet over the original Autoxsell building.

"Would somebody be taking a bus down to buy a car?" D'Angelo said. "Probably not."

The Silver Line, he said, "lends itself to a retail center more than a car lot — a coffee shop, a cellphone company, some other type service business or retail business."

Cochran said another major catalyst should boost redevelopment from roughly 56th Street to 60th Street: the extension of a sanitary sewer system, which will allow more intensive residential development along that stretch of Division Avenue.

With a shared boundary of roughly two miles down the middle of Division, the cities of Wyoming and Kentwood hope to break ground next year on the sewer project, whose cost easily could exceed $1 million. The engineering is still being done and plans aren't completed. Federal funds that will pay for the bulk of construction already are earmarked.

"That area has a number of large, underutilized properties, mainly because everything out there had to use septic fields," Cochran said. "That is really going to open up that section for development."

Terry Schweitzer, community development director for Kentwood and another member of The Rapid's board, said he expects residential density to increase after the improvements are finished. But he cautioned that the change "is something that will evolve over time."

To goose along that evolution, Wyoming and Kentwood are collaborating on the use of form-based zoning codes that will encourage redevelopment by allowing changes such as reduced setbacks for construction of buildings closer to the corridor. Form-based codes address characteristics such as the types and mixes of building in an area and the number of floors, while conventional zoning codes address characteristics such as the density use, parking and setbacks.

Kentwood is benefiting from the experience of Wyoming, which created such codes for the development along 28th Street, Schweitzer said. Wyoming may have something for its City Commission in about six months.

"We are meeting with property owners there now because we are discussing the reconstruction of Division from 54th to 60th Street, so we are also asking for input on code changes," Schweitzer said. Among those discussions is reducing the requirement for a 35-foot building setback.

There's another reason that The Rapid is optimistic about filling Silver Line buses with riders right out of the gate in August: The authority has purchased a lot for 200 cars on the southern end of the route, providing free parking on a first-come, first-served basis.

"We are trying to capture the 'choice rider,' the commuter — and who exactly that is remains to be seen," Venema said. "Is it someone driving in from Kalamazoo, or is it someone more local?"

One likely rider is a student trying to get downtown to attend classes at Grand Rapids Community College. Free parking and a 27-minute commute time could act as powerful incentives for students accustomed to the "massive pileup" that sometimes results in hourlong waits at the main GRCC ramp during peak times of 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Venema said.

The Silver Line loop downtown stops at GRCC as well as Mercy Health St. Mary's Campus; the "Medical Mile" — made up of Spectrum Health facilities, the Van Andel Institute and the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine — and two stops downtown before ending at The Rapid's Central Station.

With all the factors in play, The Rapid hopes by the end of next year to entice an average of at least 5,000 riders per weekday to take the Silver Line — making it the second-busiest route in a system that covers nearly 500 miles.

"Whenever you launch a new service, it takes time for people to acclimate or try it," Venema said. "We'll know a lot more in fall this year."