UNIVERSAL STUDIOS : MCA Given Until Feb. 10 to Submit Subway Alternative

Transit officials have given MCA until Feb. 10 to come up with a final plan to relocate a proposed subway station closer to the entertainment giant’s Universal Studios.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board voted unanimously to give MCA the Feb. 10 deadline to come up with its best offer for alternative funding for the station shift. At stake are tens of millions of dollars in federal funds that may be jeopardized if the MTA allows more delays on building the Metro Red Line extension to North Hollywood.

For more than a decade, the MTA has planned to build a subway station in Universal City--but about half a mile northwest of the main entrance to Universal Studios and its popular CityWalk shopping arcade.

MCA President Larry Spungin said it makes more sense to put the station right at the tourist attraction because passengers could use the subway on nights and weekends.

“The plan as it stands now has no benefit and is, indeed, as it was 12 years ago when first planned, fatally flawed,” Spungin told an advisory board.

MCA officials have threatened that if the site remains as planned, they may not pay the company’s $6-million share of a benefit assessment district tax to cover the cost of building it. But if the station is moved closer, Spungin said, MCA will donate 4.9 acres of land and other benefits worth $30 million to the transit agency.