UNIVERSAL CITY : MCA Gets More Time for Metro Rail Plan

A county transportation panel granted entertainment giant MCA a monthlong reprieve Thursday to find alternate sources of funding for the potential relocation of a Metro Rail station onto the company’s Universal Studios lot.

Concerned by costs and delays but willing to keep the door open on what could be a more strategic station site, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s planning and programming committee unanimously voted to give its staff and MCA consultants more time to reconcile figures and gauge community opinion on a possible move.

Transportation planners had estimated that bumping the station from its proposed Lankershim Boulevard location to one beneath the Hollywood Freeway near Cahuenga Boulevard would add an extra $41 million to the project and push back the planned July, 2000, opening by almost two years. Although they disputed those figures, MCA executives also acknowledged that there would probably be increased costs and a delay.

However, Thursday’s action provides more time for the company and the cash-strapped transit authority to work out a compromise, MCA representatives said.

“It was the right decision,” said Larry Spungin, president of MCA Development Co. “It takes two sides to agree. . . . We’re trying to find a way to bridge that gap.”

He said the company was confident that a proposal could be hammered out by the committee’s Feb. 10 meeting to offset any added costs in selecting the second site and to mitigate a delay in construction.

MCA executives had contended that relocating the station would postpone the opening by 15 months and boost the $420-million project by $21 million. Spungin said Thursday that figure could be further brought down by a jump in the number of passengers going to the company’s CityWalk attraction and if the media concern buys back the Lankershim land from MTA.