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The recently approved NFL stadium for the Rams in Inglewood is a mile and a half from the nearest future Metro Rail station. That's the station to be built in downtown Inglewood on the under-construction Crenshaw light rail line. But discussions have begun at Metro on the potential for routing another future light rail line past the new stadium, which will go up on the former Hollywood Park race track south of the Forum. An additional lure for a new line would be the huge complex of shops and entertainment that Rams owner Stan Kroenke has planned for around the stadium.
From Urbanize LA:
A motion introduced by [Metro] Board Members Mark Ridley-Thomas, James T. Butts, John Fasana, Don Knabe, Michael Antonovich and Sheila Kuehl calls on Metro staff to facilitate a feasibility study and a supplemental environmental impact report for a new light rail line that would serve the upcoming sports and entertainment complex. The proposed alignment would extend south from Florence Avenue in Inglewood to the City of Torrance, possibly along Prairie Avenue on the western perimeter of Hollywood Park.
The project would be studied as a new alternative for the South Bay Transit Corridor Rail Project, one of numerous light rail extensions funded by the coutywide half-cent sales tax mandated by Measure R. Prior explorations of the South Bay Line have envisioned it as southern extension of the Green Line from its current Redondo Beach terminus to Torrance via the Harbor Subdivision, a historic freight rail right-of-way.In addition to the upcoming stadium, the proposed alignment would also serve the adjacent commercial and entertainment complex which Kroenke is developing in partnership with Stockbridge Capital Group and Wilson Meany. Although final plans for the full development are currently unclear, entitlements would allow for upwards of 2,500 residential units, nearly 890,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, 780,000 square feet of office space, a 300-key hotel and 25 acres of public parks and open space.
Well, if you ever go to the Inglewood stadium it will probably be by car. The South Bay Line is currently scheduled for completion in 2035, though a November ballot measure could provide financing for a quicker job. From Metro's blog The Source:
As Urbanize LA points out, Measure R provides $272 million in funding for a South Bay Green Line Extension; keep in mind that light rail projects typically cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Under Measure R, the Green Line Extension project wouldn’t be completed until the mid-2030s and Metro has yet to select an alignment, although early studies have focused on extending the Green Line along its current path on the old Harbor Subdivision freight railroad right-of-way.
As we’ve pointed out numerous times, the new football stadium isn’t impossibly far from Metro Rail, although it’s hardly as close as trains are to many other NFL stadiums. The Crenshaw/LAX Line’s Downtown Inglewood Station is about a 1.5-mile walk from the football stadium with the Florence/West Station about 1.9 miles. The Green Line’s Hawthorne Station is about a 1.8-mile stroll.The Metro Board is set to discuss both Rams-related motions at its regular Board meeting on Thursday, which begins at 9 a.m.
