Q2 Stadium

The Q2 Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium under construction in the North Burnet section of North Austin, Texas. It is expected to be the home of Austin FC, a Major League Soccer (MLS) team expected to start play in 2021.

Q2 Stadium
A rendering of the stadium from August 2018
Address10414 McKalla Place
Austin, TX 78758
Coordinates30.388206°N 97.719837°W / 30.388206; -97.719837
Public transitMcKalla Place station (opening 2022)
OwnerCity of Austin
OperatorTwo Oak Ventures LLC
TypeSoccer-specific stadium
Seating typeSeated, safe standing[1]
Capacity20,500[2]
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Broke groundSeptember 9, 2019
Construction cost$240 million (est.)
ArchitectGensler
Structural engineerWalter P Moore
Tenants
Austin FC (MLS) 2021–

Site history

The earliest noted development of the tract of land was in 1956, when the land was christened as a 23.5 acre chemical manufacturing plant. The manufacturing plant produced various chemicals for Reichhold Chemicals, generally peroxides, for the majority of its 29 years as a chemical plant. The facility was closed following a series of on-site safety incidents in December, 1985, which made it economically infeasible to operate.[3]

The land was annexed into the Austin city limits on July 19, 1973.[4]

Reichhold's parent company, DIC Corporation, sold the land to the City of Austin in 1995 for $1.4 million, with the city planning on using it as the Austin Water North Service Center. However, during construction of the facility in 2003, an explosion occurred, with workers finding illegally stored chemical waste on the site. Remediation was undertaken, stripping the site down to bedrock. The city sued DIC, and received $3.6 million.[5]

When Precourt Sports Ventures, operator of Columbus Crew SC, announced they were intending to move the team to Austin, city staff identified eight potential sites for a permanent stadium.[6] 10414 McKalla Place was identified as one of those eight sites, and following some public debate, became the prime candidate following the Austin City Council meeting on March 22, 2018.[7] After several sessions, the Austin City Council granted the City Manager the authority to negotiate and execute a lease with the 7-4 vote during a special session on August 15, 2018.[8] The City announced that the lease had been completed and signed on December 19, 2018.[9]

The 20-year lease of the site includes yearly rent of $550,000 beginning in year six, with an additional $3.6 million being given to Capital Metro for transit. The stadium would be fully financed and built with private money, though stadium ownership would be held by the city itself. The club has the ability to extend the lease up to three times, with each extension being ten years.[10]

Construction

Construction progress, July 2020

The approximately 20,500 seat stadium is expected to cost $240 million, with team operator Precourt Sports Ventures privately financing the construction.[11] Other elements for the 24-acre site and surroundings include green space, potential housing, and mixed-use retail.

In March 2019, Precourt Sports named Austin Commercial as the construction manager and Gensler as the lead architect for the stadium, and announced that groundbreaking will take place in September 2019.[2]

Re-zoning the site to stadium requirements passed Austin City Council unanimously on June 6, 2019.[12]

On August 19, 2019, a site plan for the Austin FC stadium in North Austin was approved by the city of Austin, Texas.[13]

In January 2021, Austin FC entered a naming rights partnership with Q2 Holdings, a local online banking provider, resulting in the stadium formally being named Q2 Stadium on January 25, 2021.[14][15]

Public transportation

The stadium will sit alongside Capital Metro's Red Line commuter rail tracks, and the closest existing station on the Red Line is Kramer Station, which is about a 0.5 mile (0.8km) walk from the soccer stadium's location. As part of Capital Metro's Project Connect transit plan, a new station called McKalla Place will be constructed directly adjacent to the soccer stadium, about 0.5 miles (0.8km) south of the existing Kramer Station.[16] This would allow people to walk directly from the Red Line station to the soccer stadium without having to cross any roads, and would provide a much shorter walk to the stadium. The existing Kramer Station would be relocated to the Broadmoor campus, which sits about 0.6 miles (0.9km) north of the existing Kramer Station. The station at Broadmoor would be named Broadmoor Station and the existing Kramer Station would be removed.[16]

Bus connections to the stadium include MetroRapid route 803 and MetroBus routes 3, 383, 392, and 466.[17]

References

  1. Spedden, Zach (April 26, 2019). "Austin FC Stadium Design Taking Shape". Soccerstadiumdigest.com. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  2. "Precourt Sports Ventures names construction manager and design team for Austin FC stadium" (PDF) (Press release). Austin FC. March 25, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  3. "History of McKalla Place". Estadiomckalla.com. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  4. "Geocortex Viewer for HTML5". Austintexas.gov. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  5. Lyttle, Kevin. "McKalla Place: The good, bad and ugly for possible MLS stadium site". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  6. Neely, Christopher (December 12, 2017). "MAP: Austin recommends these 8 public properties for a new Major League Soccer field". Community Impact Newspaper. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  7. "Council approves study of McKalla Place as soccer stadium site". Austin Monitor. March 26, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  8. Lyttle, Kevin. "Austin City Council votes 'yes' to MLS at McKalla Place". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  9. Jimmy Maas. "Major League Soccer And Precourt Sports Sign Lease For Stadium Site In North Austin". Kut.org. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  10. "LEASE AND DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT by and between CITY OF AUSTIN, as Landlord and AUSTIN STADCO LLC, as Tenant" (PDF). Austintexas.gov. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  11. "Details of potential McKalla Place soccer deal emerge". Mystatesman.com. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  12. Jankowski, Phil (June 6, 2019). "On to No. 97, rezoning McKalla Place to build the MLS stadium for @austinfc. Some speakers on this one. Could get interesting! #ATXcouncil #mls2atx #AustinFCpic.twitter.com/HZsbvo7xb3". Twitter. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  13. "Site plan approved for Austin FC stadium". bizjournals.com. August 19, 2019.
  14. Rosner, Mark (January 25, 2021). "Austin's MLS stadium now officially has a name". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas: Statesman.com. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  15. "Austin FC announce stadium naming rights partnership with Q2 Holdings Inc". MLS. January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  16. "Capital MetroRail Red Line Map" (PDF). Capital Metro. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  17. "Capital Metro Memorandum" (PDF). Austin, Texas. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
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