MCA Transit Center

welcome back to abc-7 at five. i’m rick cabrera. and i’m estela cas. the medical center of the americas is expected to grow in the coming years. new offices, including a dental school, bring the promise of nearly 700 new jobs — plus students. now, city rep. emma acosta wants to bring a new sun metro transit center to the area. abc-7’s ashlie rodriguez looks into the proposal in a story you’ll see only on abc-7. pkg the medical center of the americas is expanding. texas tech is will add new administrative and researcg buildings, and a dental school. umc is also building a new clinic. and the mca foundation is putting the finishing touches on its new bio-tech research facility. we’re talking around 6,700 employees in a concentrated area. we know we’re going to need parking. so this was a great opportunity to have a transit terminal. rep. emma acosta has been pushing for one — and after a council vote this week — … she’s one step closer. we just have to say that we are going to commit to these, we’re going to get this project done based on what this grant application is going to be. first sun metro has to fill out a grant application. it has to promise to match federal funds 40-60. meaning 40 percent of $15 million. texas tech has already agreed that they want to partner with us. offering to donate the land. the vision is to build a transit center next to el paso’s medical center, next to the department of public health umc and texas tech. the center would be bigger than the one on glory road, offering around 800 parking spots. it would begin construction around the same time the alameda bio corridor is finishing up. you can take it from downtown, from northeast, any one of the corridors. so even for the students, it’s going to be a lot easier. arabc7 the application is due april 29th. we’ll know whether it’s going to happen when congress votes on the national budget this october.