Austin | Q2 Stadium (Austin FC) | Complete
 

In honor of our first major league sports franchise. Someone's already turning dirt there.

https://twitter.com/Platothewise/sta...38790965714948

Construction cam link:
https://app.truelook.com/?u=as1567715491#tl_live

:???:Sweet!

I think they are prettying it up a bit to make ready for the golden shovel photo op. They're not wasting time because they don't have time to waste. I'm betting on 3 cranes when construction begins.

Not a moment to spare! ⚽⚽⚽

:cheers:

The land agreement between PSV and the City has yet to be signed. Since this is the case, I would be very surprised if PSV is financing any movement out there right now. They don't have legal right to the property yet.

Oh...and the legal fight in Ohio has yet to be resolved. They (Ohio) is going to fight like hell on this one.


**However, I'm sitting here in extremely eager anticipation to celebrate when everything is finalized in Austin's favor.

Love that Austin's anti-everything crowd wasn't able to kill this. I strongly believe that it was due to the numbers of people standing up for a change and not being apathetic. We all must get more involved--the NIMBY's are but a small fraction of us.

MLS has an option in front of it for teams in Austin (through PSV) and Columbus (through expansion). Hoping to keep this one focused on the build, not the politics.

Can anyone speak on how long stadiums typically take to construct? I don't have a whole lot of experience here.

It depends on how extensive the work is going to be. MLS stadiums are on the smaller side so 2 years should be sufficient to open the stadium with the entire complex being operational in 3-4 seems about right.

In PSV's initial proposal

http://mls2atx.com/precourt-sports-v...ity-of-austin/

Official Project StartSummer 2018Schematic Design Phase15 WeeksDesign Development Phase23 WeeksConstruction Documents Design Phase28 weeksConstruction Phase78 – 82 weeks First EventSpring 2021



Now, they're not going to make Summer 2018, but hopefully early fall.


By comparison Mapfre was "274 days from groundbreaking to the inaugural game (9 months, 1 day)."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapfre_Stadium

Not sure how much of the ~80 weeks "Construction" of the Austin proposal is before groundbreaking (if any). But I do think it points out how Mapfre really was sort of thrown together.

They didn't even sign the lease on the ground until May 14 1998

https://abc6onyourside.com/news/loca...lumbus-crew-sc

If I remember correctly, Mapfre was built for ~$30 million. That sounds like a pretty bare bones cost, even in 1998 dollars. The stadium at McKalla should be an exponential upgrade over Mapfre, so a much longer construction time frame seems reasonable.

The canopy over the seats are going to add a significant cost but I'm sure people will appreciate it. That'll probably be the thing that people notice the most vs the hotbox that will be the COTA bleachers.

Fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Travis County commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday to “authorize the county attorney to preserve the county’s right to challenge the tax-exempt status of the stadium company’s use of city property” and “pursue negotiations with the city and other local taxing entities on expectations for preserving taxable value in th redevelopment of publicly owned real estate.”

Nonissue. It's already settled law. Just some politicians posturing so they can tell the voters "they care".

Pretty extensive resource on McKalla http://austintexas.gov/mckalla

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...134&j=83411271

County looks like they will make this an issue.

I approve.


https://league-mp7static.mlsdigital....-explained.png

Not bad at all!

The logo is handsome as hell, but am I the only one that sort of hopes they go with a different sort of name? Like either a name with a nickname a la the norm of North American sports leagues, or even a European naming convention that has been used less than FC ___, ___ United, Real ___, etc.

Nothing says we're badass and ready to strike fear into the hearts of our opponents like two intertwining oak trees...:poke:

Hug a tree today.

I think the trend in MLS has been to go more general with the actual name and then let fans/supporters groups come up with a nickname. You see that with a lot of European football clubs. Manchester United's nickname is the "Red Devils", Manchester City is called "City" or "Citizens", Arsenal's nickname is "The Gunners"

"The Oaks" is already catching on here.

Here's Alexi Lalas calling us that

https://twitter.com/AlexiLalas/statu...57729997266944

I still believe that 20,000 seats is too small. Nashville is building a 30,500 seat stadium. I really feel PSV may be underestimating support for this team and should consider at least a 25,000 seat stadium.

The logo is good, but the name is lame being that it's generic.

I'm surprised the new renderings weren't posted yet:

https://i.imgur.com/PbRlh0H.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/gjI30Ov.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5qwi42n.jpg
https://twitter.com/CorkGaines

Man, that's cool.

Thanks, ATX! Now all that wood on the exterior makes sense.

So the reports stating that the MLS trademarked the names Austin FC and Austin Athletic panned out.

Our team will be Austin FC. Some guy in another thread tried telling me that it doesn't matter that the MLS trademarked those 2 names. That guy will be eating crow soon.

The logo, its colors, AND the new stadium renders are simply fantastic!!!

Now we just need the rail line connection, some infill around McKalla place (VMUs with first floor residential) and for the city to make the walk to/from the Domain pedestrian friendly.

Hopefully we get some nice shuttle buses to/from Rock Rose and some of the breweries in the area on game day as well.

It's not the best part of town at the moment, but due to proximity to the domain and 183 it makes sense that Burnett between 183 and braker should take off alongside the stadium construction.

Are there any plans for pedestrian bridges over the train tracks to connect over towards 4th tap?

Let’s hope the city gets behind this ASAP. It would be great to see people wearing merch all around town forcing the county to get in line. We need to make it a political hot potato.

I simply love all of this! :cheers:

https://media.giphy.com/media/rl0FOxdz7CcxO/giphy.gif

PSV's proposed site plan has always included a pedestrian crossing of the rail onto Delta Dr. At grade I expect.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...plan-more.html

Their initial traffic plan (using the Delta/Donley/Denton loop as a staging/loading zone for ride shares) would require it.


As for the walk from the Domain, once the Red Line trail connects to Braker (and the last amendments from council would have the stadium connect to that) the short term walk would be down the Kramer "trail"(wide sidewalk) to the trail and then down.
Once Broadmoor is constructed, walking across on Palm and then down will probably be better.

I am very excited for this, but I am little nervous about the parking. How do you fill 20k seating with 1000 parking spaces?

You don't. You fill it with the 3000 parking spaces at Domain Tower a half mile away. The X parking spaces at Broadmore, the X spaces at....

Plus bike and transit.

Get people who are probably planning on drinking a bunch of beer, pre-gaming and post-gaming at bars to stop driving everywhere. It amazes me in the age of Uber and Lyft how full parking in downtown Austin is on Friday and Saturday night. Like, I'm sure there are some DDs and some people just eating dinner... but there are a lot of people who should not be driving that are. It's an issue that Austin needs to get under control, *especially* as we become a more pedestrian friendly city.

I'm planning on biking downtown (or lyft if I'm running late) and taking the rail to the stadium from there.

This would let me get down to the area early, hit up some of the local breweries and then hang around for an hour or so post game and take the rail back downtown where I could get home.

That's exactly my plan (or maybe even take the 803), too. I have no desire to drive with so many good breweries within walking distance of the stadium. I'm particularly excited for Circle Brewing just across the street on Braker. They don't get as much publicity as some of the others in the area but their beer is really, really good (Circle Blur is my second favorite local behind Live Oak Hefe) so I hope this gets them more visibility. I'm hoping they upgrade their tasting room a bit by the time the stadium comes on line, though. All of the breweries in the area should absolutely kill it on game days.

Based on the Cap Metro rep's comments on the day of the stadium vote, there will not be an at-grade crossing of the tracks unless there is a station there. Otherwise, pedestrians would have to cross at a controlled spot (Braker).

I'm a big fan of 4th tap as well, which flies under the radar a bit compared to some of the others (you should check out Party World Rasslin events if you haven't).

But yeah, if I was any of those breweries my tasting rooms would be a lot bigger, put in some TVs for game day and get some shuttles ready to run people back and forth from the stadium.

Any chance for a bridge or tunnel underneath? I think it's a real mistake not to allow for pedestrian foot traffic through there.

I think Hemingson's just angling to get a station paid for. CapMetro has pedestrian-only crossings.

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.3554...thumbfov%3D100


Literally there's no difference between a controlled pedestrian-only spot and a controlled crossing that includes a vehicle lane, except the former is cheaper.

If I remember correctly, the Cap Metro rep was asked if either of those were viable and he said yes as long as it met federal regulations for crossing an active passenger/freight rail line (and there was money to pay for it, which is probably the bigger issue here).

I'm still hoping that a deal for a station at the site will get done. PSV apparently won't pay for the full ~$16 mil cost of the station (which I believe would include double tracking that part of the line) but hopefully some combination of PSV/Cap Metro/COA/federal $ come together to make it happen.

If not, the Kramer station works for now but that will only be short term since it will ultimately go away with the opening of the Broadmoor station. A McKalla station is crucial, I believe, to moving significant numbers of fans to and from the stadium via transit.

That's good to know. Still want a full-fledged station but the at-grade crossing would certainly be helpful for folks taking ride shares and parking on the east side of the tracks.

P.S. Oh my gosh, I just realized where that crossing you linked to is. Many, many years ago, I walked to school at Wooten Elementary from my house on Pompton and I'm pretty sure that's where I crossed the tracks. Crazy.

Cap Metro was pretty adment at council that at grade crossings only occur at streets or stations. I don’t think they can put in a at grade crossing on the property without having it be a station.

Interesting.

Alright, they had me with green. That is my favorite color... I also love the logo with the oaks.

Now we just need a bad ass theme song like Belgium. There's a couple that I would recommend.

They really need a full train station on site. Doesn't make sense not to. If I'm going to attempt to go to a game, it will have to be by train because if I'm going to party anywhere after games, it's gonna be Downtown and I'm not driving

Doesn’t it make more sense for you to drive to COTA?

have they released merch yet?