With a lease at long last signed, the City of Austin and Precourt Sports Ventures (PSV) is one giant step closer to seeing a Major League Soccer Stadium built at McKalla place in North Austin.
PSV’s Lawyer Richard Suttle believes the biggest win for Austin is getting the company to foot the bill for the stadium.
“We get a team, we get a stadium. And it’s not paid for by the taxpayers.”-Suttle
Some of the other major concerns for Austinites were addressed in the terms of the lease. For instance affordable housing, the city owned land at McKalla Place has long been deemed an area ripe for an affordable housing development. To appease housing advocates, PSV promised it would help out in the effort, and Suttle says now it is in the writing. The lease dictates PSV must get 130 affordable housing units placed on the construction site or on another plot agreed upon with the city within four years of the stadium’s completion.
Traffic was also a big worry, especially for home owners surrounding the North Austin plot. Suttle explained, they are designing the stadium parking to not have enough spots for attendees. He believes this will force people to explore transportation alternatives and spread the traffic around the area. Suttle added, the lease also demands PSV build a bus station near the stadium and give Cap Metro a few million dollars to possibly build a rail stop.
With the lease out of the way, Suttle said, they will now start working with city staffers in the permitting process, with the hopes of a construction start in 2019.
(photo:shutterstock/lev radin)
