New McKalla Place rail station would cost $13M

Mass transit for potential Major League Soccer fans in Austin would come with a hefty price tag.

On Friday, Mariette Hummel, a spokeswoman for Capital Metro, confirmed that building a light rail station at the site of a proposed MLS stadium at McKalla Place in North Austin would cost nearly $13 million. The cost was first reported Thursday by The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio.

Precourt Sports Ventures on Tuesday revealed a site plan for the 24-acre, city-owned property in North Austin, and the owners of the Columbus Crew SC would like a rail station on the east side of the site. Currently, the Kramer station for the city’s northsouth light rail line is about a half-mile away from McKalla Place. City officials had previously indicated to the American-Statesman the station is likely to move. But where, and who pays for it, remains to be determined. According to the report from the Dispatch, it sounds as if Cap Metro believes PSV should foot the bill.

“We are receptive to the idea, and to providing service to help people get to/ from games held there, so long as PSV pays for the cost to develop a station and other necessary infrastructure,” a Cap Metro statement to The Dispatch said.

City officials said they have provided Precourt a conceptual design for a station, according to the newspaper’s report.

“We believe that investing in an on-site station is an important piece to addressing the mobility challenges at the site as the existing station is not proximate and lacks pedestrian connectivity,” the statement provided to The Dispatch said.

Richard Suttle, an Austin MLS lobbyist working for PSV, said the proposed station relocation is not essential for a stadium.

“It appears that the relocation of the station would be a benefit to getting people to and from the stadium, but the scope and cost of the station project exceeds the benefit to the stadium project,” Suttle said.