Minnesota United and Mortenson Construction will ramp up work on the Major League Soccer club’s new Allianz Field this fall, while business leases on the site’s northern side remain in place in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood.

A central crane stretches high above the corner of Interstate 94 and Snelling Avenue as most of the existing soil remediation work has concluded and sub-surface has been started on the stadium’s southern end, Loons majority owner Bill McGuire said Thursday. Steel for the 19,400-seat soccer-specific venue is projected to arrive in September and October.

“They are chugging along pretty fast,” McGuire said.

McGuire said progress has been made on the leases with the existing businesses within the Midway Shopping Center, including anchor tenant Rainbow Foods, but he declined to share specifics.

St. Paul Port Authority President Lee Krueger said there is still no agreement with Irgens, a Milwaukee-based developer to be tasked with overseeing the conversion from Rainbow Foods to the land needed to build the stadium’s northern side.

“I don’t want to talk about the details too much,” McGuire said. “They’re not necessary (all) there, but we’ve been working through to do what it takes to progressively move this along.”

McGuire said current construction has had slight hold-ups, but he doesn’t foresee large delays that push past the targeted opening date of March 2019. “You won’t see any interruption in the work, let’s put it that way,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Kentucky bluegrass that will form the playing surface at Allianz Field is expected to start growing on a Colorado farm this week or next. In Centerville, Minn., Mortenson has been testing how different LED lighting will project over a large sample panel of the roof, which will cover the majority of the seats in the $200 million privately financed stadium.

Allianz Field’s overall height will be lower than the 95-foot tall front doors at U.S. Bank Stadium, and the new venue would fit within the lower bowl of the Loons’ rented home, the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium, McGuire said. The MLS expansion franchise, which has the third-fewest points among the league’s 22 teams this season, has an agreement to play through the 2018 season at TCF Bank Stadium.

When United announced Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America to a naming rights deal for the stadium in late July, McGuire said cost of the stadium had increased from $150 million to $200 million.

McGuire has sought an “architecturally interesting” roof with a sort of herring bone design within the overall contours, a feature that will differentiate it from most other MLS venues. The roof has been a substantial driver in the higher cost, with added kitchens and overall finishes also increasing the price tag, he said.

The current cost/benefit decisions being weighed for the stadium include the level of internet capabilities, the amount of clubs and their offerings as well as scoreboard details and the variety of concession options.

When Allianz Field was announced, the latest renderings held a change from the high-rise buildings from initial looks to surface parking lots surrounding the stadium. McGuire called a fully developed area more of a “master plan” versus what will be available the day the stadium opens.

“Ultimately, the intention is, as the area develops, we will hopefully create some of those parking spaces in areas indoors or in areas attached to buildings, so they’re multi-use,” McGuire said. “But you can’t design that until you find who the tenants are and what kind of things are going to come in there.”