The New York City Council voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to approve construction of a 25,000-seat, privately financed soccer stadium at Willets Point in Queens, to house the New York City Football Club.
The vote pushed the project a step closer to fruition than any of the previous proposals over the last decade, adding a measure of real hope among supporters that it might actually get done this time.
The proposed stadium would be built across Seaver Way from Citi Field, where the New York Mets play. In the first phase of redevelopment, the site would include approximately 1,400 units of “permanently affordable housing,” a hotel and 80,000 square feet of retail space, according to the legislation approved Thursday. It would also include 2.8 acres of publicly accessible open space.
Under the proposal, the city would retain the land, which has for decades been known as the “Iron Triangle” for its ramshackle collection of automobile repair facilities, and lease it to the club, similar to agreements with other stadiums in New York.
The lease would be for 49 years and the club would have an option to extend it another 25. Initial plans estimated that the stadium would cost $780 million and would open in 2027.
The city will help finance nearby infrastructure, but construction for the project itself would be financed by N.Y.C.F.C.’s majority owner, City Football Group, an investment firm led by Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi who also controls the English soccer powerhouse Manchester City.
