A community meeting was held Thursday night to discuss plans for a proposed Major League Soccer stadium McKalla Place. The city council let concerned residents have the floor to voice pros and cons of bringing an MLS team to Austin.

Top concerns from folks attending tonight's meeting was not only improvements when it comes to transportation, but affordable housing as well. "So far Precourt has let its interest be known that they'd like to bring its team to the City of Austin. We've had several city council meetings with steps along the way trying to find a site. We are now operating under a city council resolution that was passed that said negotiate terms of the McKalla site."

FOX 7 Austin talked to Richard Suttle with Precourt Sports Ventures.

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Precourt has proposed paying for a $200 million stadium on city-owned land called McKalla Place which would be located near The Domain. Part of that resolution Suttle mentioned, said to have a meeting to gather more info from the public on community benefits of this specific project.

It was a packed house at Thursday night's meeting at the Austin Public Library, where members of the city council, Precourt Sports Ventures, and fellow Austinites expressed concerns about the McKalla Place project. "I think the goal is now to get this done in time for the team to get here by 2019. A lot of things have to happen."


The City of Austin says they sent out a survey that asked if Austin were to pursue a Major League Soccer franchise, what would be potential community issues.

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41 % of people said transportation improvements. Followed by affordable housing, recreation and open space, mixed use development, and jobs and employment centers.

FOX 7 Austin also spoke with Rebecca Giello, interim director of the economic development department for the City of Austin. “There are a lot of community benefits whenever we redevelop city owned land one of which is affordable housing a number of others is creative space. Community benefits really are identified from the community and one will be touched on during negotiations."

But on the flip side, some residents agree there are big benefits to the potential McKalla / stadium partnership. Including support for youth sports and using the stadium for community events.

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There's a city council meeting on Thursday August 9th where a decision will be made to either move forward with the development of the McKalla site related to the stadium, or if the site will be used for something else.