(Photo by Annika Cline - KJZZ)

The opening of the first Mesa light rail extension, which goes from Sycamore Road to Mesa Drive.

The Mesa light rail extension from Sycamore Road to Mesa Drive opened Saturday to much fanfare.

The extension adds 3.1 miles of track to the existing 20-mile stretch and was completed seven months ahead of schedule. That leaves about 43 miles left to complete by 2034. 

Up next is another 3-mile extension along 19th Avenue, from Montebello Avenue to Dunlap. Steve Banta is CEO of Valley Metro and said that section should wrap up next year. Just like the Mesa extension, there will be three new stops and a lot of businesses affected by the additions.

"We were working with about 199 different businesses in the central Mesa extension and 237 businesses in and around the northwest extension," Banta said.

By now, businesses know the drill. Wait a few years through construction for the promise of more customers once it’s done. Deborah Salon is with ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and said, for the most part, it’s worth the wait.

"Not only are they going to get more customers on the train but the whole area is going to be transformed by that new rail investment and there’s just going to be a lot more activity there," Salon said.

She said a few new bus stops, by comparison, might bring some more customers, but certainly not the amount of longer-term investments you get with light rail.

On Main Street and Macdonald in Mesa, the reflection of the light rail train in the shop windows is still unfamiliar. D’Ann Davis owns Crismon Flowers on Main Street and said she’s glad construction is over, but that the next hurdle is whether the arrival of the rail will raise her rent.

"I would imagine it would. Each landlord’s gonna approach it differently," Davis said.

And that’s the possible downside to those longer-term investments Salon mentioned. She said research has shown a rail system makes an area more desirable and in turn rent goes up, especially for those businesses closest to new rail stations.

It’s a situation more Valley businesses may find themselves in as light rail grows out to Glendale and the West Valley in the coming decade. But that growth also depends on future funding, which voters are deciding on today with prop 104 on the ballot.