New York City officials on Thursday approved a plan to build a 25,000-seat stadium for MLS’s New York City FC next to Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets.
The US$780 million stadium, scheduled to open in 2027, will anchor a nine-hectare redevelopment project in the Willets Point neighborhood that will also include housing, a new public school, shops and a hotel.
The new stadium will be the first venue in New York dedicated to professional soccer. NYCFC, which won the MLS Cup in 2021, currently plays its home games at Citi Field or Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
In addition to Citi Field, the stadium’s neighbors will include the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the U.S. Open is played.
The City Council approved the new stadium after decades of failed efforts to transform Willets Point, long a collection of auto body shops.
City officials said the stadium would be privately financed by NYC FC’s owners, who include the Yankees and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, owner of the Manchester City soccer club.
But the city’s Independent Budget Office concluded that the stadium’s true cost to taxpayers could be $516 million, spread over the 49-year term of NYC FC’s lease.
The analysis is based on what the city would have received in property taxes if it had sold the land to the stadium developers instead of leasing it.
The development team includes related companies and Sterling Equities, which is partly controlled by the Wilpon family, which once owned the Mets.
2024-04-11 20:28:00
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