Studies Say Moving Rail Station to Theme Park May Raise Costs

Moving a planned Metro Rail station from Lankershim Boulevard to a site inside Universal Studios may increase ridership and eliminate the need to relocate residents but may also raise construction costs and delay the project up to three years, according to studies released Wednesday.

Although the studies indicate Universal Studios will benefit greatly by the proposed station relocation, MCA Inc., the media giant that owns the amusement park, said it will not pay any cost increases caused by the move.

“We think it won’t cost more so we shouldn’t pay more,” said MCA representative Christine R. Hanson.

But officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that if there are added costs, they should be borne by MCA.

“We wouldn’t want it to cost MTA any more, so clearly we should look to MCA for any cost increase,” said Judy Wilson, MTA’s executive officer for planning and programming.

The two studies were drafted separately to investigate the feasibility of moving a proposed Lankershim Boulevard Metro Rail station to a site more convenient to patrons of Universal Studios.

One study was drafted by planning officials at the transportation authority, while the other was written by Gruen Associates, a Los Angeles-based planning consultant that was hired by MCA.

The planned Lankershim station would encompass 24 acres, including a six-acre parking lot on Ventura Boulevard near Vineland Avenue that would be connected to the station by a six-lane bridge over the Hollywood Freeway.

The 8.4-acre station site suggested by MCA would be located underground beneath the Hollywood Freeway with half of the parking south of the freeway and adjacent to Cahuenga Boulevard and the other half north of the freeway in Universal Studios. Riders would be able to enter on both sides of the freeway via tunnels.

Both studies said costs would increase if the station is relocated because of construction delays and because the Universal City site would be built under the freeway. By contrast, the proposed station on Lankershim Boulevard would be built from the surface down and then covered with dirt.

Neither report provided figures for the increased construction costs. County transportation officials said those figures are currently being calculated and will be released within 60 days.

MCA may be willing to sell the county about half of the land needed for the Universal City station, thus eliminating the need to buy adjacent property on Lankershim Boulevard and relocate homes and businesses. However, the county transportation study says the savings in real estate costs may not balance out the “somewhat higher station construction costs.”

Since August, MCA has been pressing transportation officials to relocate the station to better serve patrons of the amusement park. And MCA has a big bargaining chip--the power to withhold $6 million from the subway builders.

Under a 10-year-old state law, MCA can, with just a signature, withhold from the MTA nearly $6 million in property assessment fees on which the agency is depending to build the station.

The law grants property owners the right to vote on whether to reject such assessments, and as owner of 70% of the assessment district established around the proposed station, MCA alone could swing the election.

The station is scheduled to open in the year 2000 on Lankershim Boulevard near the front entrance of Universal Studios, but half a mile downhill from most of the park’s major attractions.

County transportation officials have already awarded a contract to dig the rail tunnel north of the Universal City station to a planned station in North Hollywood. A second contract to build the tunnel south to Hollywood is scheduled to be awarded in three months.

Relocating the station could delay completion of the project by 18 to 30 months, depending on how fast MCA is willing to move to design and build the new station, according to the county transportation report.

The new station site may be able to draw riders from the 25,000 to 70,000 daily visitors to the theme park. The MCA report said a station on Universal Studios property would increase ridership on the Metro Rail by 27%, or 4,250 riders on a typical day, and 78%, or 12,000 riders on peak summer days.

The move would also free county transportation officials from having to build a six-lane access road and bridge over the Hollywood Freeway, according to the MCA study.

Moving the station to Universal Studios would require less land, only 8.4 acres compared to 24 acres planned for the current station site, because a parking structure would be built instead of providing surface parking lot spaces.

The move would eliminate the need to relocate a racquet center on Ventura Boulevard and residents in 144 apartment units adjacent to the planned station.

The Debate Continues

MCA Inc., the owner of Universal Studios, released a report Wednesday claiming that moving the proposed Metro Rail station inside the theme park would increase ridership by 27%. A Metro Rail study unveiled the same day contends that increased construction costs and delays would result.