SACRAMENTO-Following last week’s announcement that theCalifornia High-Speed Rail Authority was awarded $715million from the federal government, bringing to $4.3billion the funding secured to begin construction on the core ofthe system in 2012, as GlobeSt.com previously reported, federalofficials have clarified where the funding will be spent. Accordingto the officials, the entirety of the federal funding Californiahas received so far “must be spent in one of the two Central Valleysections of the project.”

What that news means is that the $4.3-billion in infrastructureinvestment will be directed somewhere in the region between Mercedand Bakersfield. The California High-Speed Rail Authority CEORoelof van Ark revealed that he received a letter on Wednesday fromFederal Railroad Administrator Joe Szabo, outlinings the federalagency’s requirement that all federal funds for the project must bedirected to either the Merced-to-Fresno or to theFresno-to-Bakersfield portion of the project. To read the fullletter, click here.

Micro and macro infrastructure implementations usuallyinfluences commercial real estate in drastically different ways,says Los Angeles-based Saman Shams, a managing director of ICOGroup of Cos. He explains to GlobeSt.com that on one hand you mayhave local and micro level changes that are profound. “Take forexample the metro at the W hotel in Hollywood. On day one, thatmetro influenced the hotel, which continues to materially influencesurrounding retail business and landlords with a halo effect,” hesays.