METROrail's proposed Uptown Line in the Galleria/Uptown area will require co-opting some significant sections of land from area businesses, according to plans posted by the River Oaks Examiner.

Dating from March 2009, plans show the proposed route affecting 48 properties along Post Oak Boulevard between Richmond Avenue north to the boulevard's intersection with the 610 loop.

The biggest swath of land to be claimed is a 29,476-square-foot strip on the western edge of Dillard's, which the Examiner notes "appear[s] to include the ramp leading to the second-story of the garage," followed by undeveloped land owned by the state of Texas on the east side of Post Oak between Hidalgo and Monterrey Plaza that would lose 14,259 square feet and the recently dedicated Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park, which stands to lose 10,387 square feet. A total of almost 140,000 square feet, or 3.2 acres, would have to be redesignated according to current plans.

A spokesman told the Examiner that while no land has yet been purchased, owners approached have been “for the most part receptive.” Construction on the Uptown Line is scheduled to begin in 2011 or 2012.

[via Swamplot]